Europe's Galileo sat-nav system, a rival to America's GPS, took a step closer to becoming operational today with the launch of a fresh pair of satellites to join a dozen already in space.
	Orbiters 13 and 14 blasted off on a Russian Soyuz rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 0848 GMT as planned, according to space agencies.
	After a journey of nearly four hours, the 700-kilogramme (1,540-pound) satellites entered Earth orbit at an altitude of 23,522 kilometres (14,615 miles).
	"Named for the astronomer who pinpointed the Earth's true position in the Solar System, the Galileo satellite navigation system that will help Europe find its way in the 21st century now has 14 satellites in orbit," the European Space Agency (ESA) said.
	Seventeenth century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was tried for heresy and jailed by the Catholic Church for insisting the Earth orbited the Sun.
	Ultimately, the multi-billion-euro constellation named after the "father of modern ...

Europe launches fresh satellite pair for sat-nav system

PTI Automatic

Satellite imagery appears to show extensive damage to an air base in Syria used by Russian forces following an attack by fighters from the Islamic State group, US intelligence company Stratfor said today.
	The claim was immediately denied by Russia's defence ministry which said that the damage had been there for months and was due to fighting between Syrian government forces and "militants from terror groups".
	Stratfor released satellite images dated from May 14 and May 17, implying that the damage to the T-4 base, also known as Tiyas, was caused in that time.
	The images suggest four helicopters and 20 lorries were destroyed by fire inside the base, which strategically located in central Syria between war-ravaged Palmyra and Homs.
	"The T4 air base was severely damaged by an Islamic State artillery attack. In particular, four Russian Mi-24 attack helicopters appear to have been destroyed," Stratfor said on their website.
	The cause of the apparent damage could not be determined from 

Syrian base used by Russia damaged in IS attack: report

British expats who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will not be able to vote in next month's EU referendum, the Supreme Court ruled today.
	A case was brought by Harry Shindler, a 95-year-old Briton who has lived in Italy for 35 years, and Jacquelyn MacLennan, 54, a resident of Belgium since 1987.
	They argued that the ban on people who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from voting in the June 23 referendum was unlawful.
	The 15-year limit applies to all elections in Britain.
	But their case was rejected by five judges at the Supreme Court after a lengthy legal battle which took their bid up through the English legal system over recent months.
	"It is not arguable that there is an interference with the right to free movement," said Brenda Hale, one of the five judges and the Supreme Court's deputy president.
	"We do have considerable sympathy for the situation in which the applicants find themselves. We understand that this is something that concerns them deeply, but we 

UK expats lose case on right to vote in EU referendum

Floods subsided across Sri Lanka today revealing the full extent of damage from last week's deluge that also triggered landslides, officials said, as the death toll crossed 100.
	The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 101 people were known to have died last week while another 100 people were still listed as missing in the worst hit central district of Kegalle.
	Military officials in the district, 100 kilometres (60 miles) north-east of the capital, said a search was still under way for the missing people although there was little hope of finding anyone alive under the tonnes of mud.
	"The flood waters have receded across the country," DMC spokesman Pradeep Kodippili told AFP. "Over 530 houses have been completely destroyed and another 4,000 partly damaged."
	He said most of the capital's flood-affected population had returned to their homes since Monday when the water levels started going down.
	At the height of the floods, a third of Colombo's 650,000 residents were driven out of .

Sri Lanka rain death toll hits 101 as waters recede

Dubai presented ambitious plans today for its hosting of the 2020 World Expo, the first in the Middle East, with organisers hoping to attract 25 million visitors.
	Representatives of more than 100 countries gathered in the Emirati city for talks on the event, which Dubai won the right to host in 2013.
	"For the first time in the history of World Expos, each country will have an individual pavilion, enhancing the ability of nations to showcase themselves," organisers said in a statement.
	The Expo site will cover 438 hectares (1,080 acres) next to Dubai's smaller second airport, Al-Maktoum International, which opened in 2013.
	Panel discussions and workshops were held during the two-day planning meeting aimed at providing potential participants with details on the Expo 2020 plan and highlighting "business opportunities in the UAE for innovation, trade and investment, and knowledge transfer," the statement said.
	The fair will take place from October 2020 to April 2021.

Dubai presents ambitious Expo 2020 plans

Twitter announced today it was easing its 140-character limit for tweets, allowing users to add links, attachments and some other features within the short messages.
	The move comes as Twitter's efforts to increase its user base and engagement have been sputtering, raising questions about its growth trend.
	"Over the past decade, the tweet has evolved from a simple 140-character text message to a rich canvas for creative expression featuring photos, videos, hashtags, Vines, and more," said Twitter product manager Todd Sherman in a statement.
	"So, you can already do a lot in a tweet, but we want you to be able to do even more. In the coming months we'll make changes to simplify tweets including what counts toward your 140 characters."
	Sherman said names in replies, and media attachments such as photos, videos, and polls will no longer be counted toward the character limit.
	He added that updates would be implemented "over the coming months" and that developer partners would be given .

Twitter eases 140-character limit for tweets

A landslide in Myanmar's northern jade mining region has killed at least 12 people and many more are missing, officials said today, the latest deadly accident to hit the shadowy but lucrative industry.
	The bodies were recovered after a wall of unstable earth collapsed Monday night following heavy rain in the town of Hpakant in Kachin state, the centre of a multi-billion-dollar trade that feeds a huge demand for the precious stones from neighbouring China.
	"We retrieved seven dead bodies last night and five more this morning," a police officer in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw told AFP, requesting anonymity.
	But efforts to look for more bodies among the rubble have been halted as renewed rain threatens to trigger fresh landslides.
	At least 15 people were injured and an estimated 30 others are missing, the officer added.
	Confirming the death toll Nilar Myint, a local official in Hpakant, said around 50 people were searching for the stone when an earth wall inside the mine ...

12 dead in Myanmar jade mine landslide, many feared missing

Seven Ukrainian soldiers have died in the country's war-torn east over the past 24 hours, the biggest casualty toll in a single day this year, Kiev said today.
	The latest violence came as the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine called for the implementation of a peace deal in the separatist east during late-night talks on Monday.
	Ukraine also called for an OSCE "police mission" while the Kremlin said it backed an expanded monitoring mission in the east of Ukraine.
	"As a result of shelling, seven Ukrainian soldiers have died and nine received injuries over the past 24 hours," Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said in a statement.
	Turchynov blamed Russia's leadership for the attacks, accusing it of doing everything to "torpedo a peaceful way to solve the conflict and the liberation of the occupied territories".
	He claimed Russia was massing heavy weapons along a demarcation line in the east, adding that over the past month 

Seven Ukrainian soldiers killed in war-torn east

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today Moscow was ready to coordinate with a Kurdish-Arab alliance and the US-led coalition in an assault on the Islamic State group's Syrian bastion of Raqa.
	"I say with all authority that we are ready for such coordination," Lavrov said at a summit in Uzbekistan, quoted by TASS state news agency.

Russia ready to coordinate with Kurds and US on Raqa offensive

North Korea has challenged United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon to clarify the legal basis for UN sanctions against it, Pyongyang's state media said today.
	The North's permanent representative to the UN wrote to Secretary-General Ban yesterday, saying that UN sanctions imposed over its nuclear tests and "peaceful satellite launches" had no legal foundation, KCNA news agency reported.
	It did not identify the permanent representative by his name, Ja Song-Nam.
	The UN Security Council in March imposed its toughest sanctions on North Korea to date following its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the following month.
	The North had already been subject to a range of sanctions because of earlier nuclear tests -- in 2006, 2009 and 2013 -- and a series of long-range missile tests presented as satellite launches.
	The Security Council resolutions condemned the nuclear tests and rocket launches as a threat to international peace and security.
	But the North Korean envoy 

N Korea asks UN chief to explain legal basis for sanctions

Desmond Tutu's daughter has been forced to give up her duties as a priest in South Africa's Anglican church after she married a woman, she said today.
	Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu-van Furth can no longer preside at Holy Communion, weddings, baptisms or funerals after handing in her licence because the church does not recognise gay marriage.
	She said her father, the retired archbishop and celebrated anti-apartheid campaigner, was "sad but not surprised" at the news.
	"The canon (law) of the South African Church states that marriage is between one man and one woman," Tutu-van Furth said in an email.
	"After my marriage... The Bishop of Saldanha Bay was advised that he must revoke my licence. I offered to return my licence rather than require that he take it from me."
	Mpho and Marceline Tutu-van Furth have been on honeymoon on the Indonesian island of Bali after holding a wedding party outside Cape Town earlier this month.
	Desmond Tutu, 84, who has been in frail health, attended the ...

Tutu's daughter loses SA church licence after gay marriage

Turkey's incoming Prime Minister Binali Yildirim today unveiled his new cabinet line-up two days after being given a mandate by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with most key ministers keeping their jobs but the EU minister switched.
	Key names in the former cabinet remained in place, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, and Interior Minister Efkan Ala as well as deputy prime minister in charge of economy Mehmet Simsek, in a relief to markets.
	In the biggest change, ruling party spokesman Omer Celik will be new EU affairs minister, replacing Volkan Bozkir, one of the brokers of a controversial deal with the European Union to curb the flow of migrants to Europe.
	Fikri Isik also replaces Ismet Yilmaz as defence minister and there was no place in the cabinet for powerful deputy prime minister Yalcin Akdogan.
	Erdogan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak keeps his job as energy minister, after suggestions he could have been promoted to an even more senior ...

Incoming Turkey PM unveils new cabinet, EU minister switched

Belgian police fired water-cannon during clashes with protesters at a huge demonstration in Brussels today against the centre-right government's austerity measures.
	A group of around 100 masked protesters broke away from the peaceful main rally of around 60,000 people in the Belgian capital and started hurling objects and firecrackers at riot police, AFP journalists said.
	Officers then drove them back with jets of water from three cannon.
	The protest is supposed to kick off months of planned demonstrations and national strikes led by trade unions against the policies of Prime Minister Charles Michel's government.
	Security had been tight amid fears of a repeat of the violence that marred a mass rally against reforms announced by Michel just after he came to power in 2014.
	Brussels also remains under security alert following the March 22 suicide bombings at the airport and metro system, claimed by the Islamic State group.
	Three main unions oppose proposed reforms from Employment ..

Brussels police fire water-cannon at anti-austerity protest

The eurozone needs the IMF on board in Greece's massive bailout despite deep divisions over debt relief, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said today.
	"It's not an option to go on without the IMF," Dijsselbloem said as he arrived for talks with eurozone finance ministers to end a row between Europe and the International Monetary Fund over how to proceed with Greece's 86-billion-euro (USD 96 billion) bailout.
	"There is a reason to look at debt relief because the debt is very high and there will be some problems in the future, I think the debt analysis shows that," Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch Finance Minister, added.
	"How big these problems are and how we can deal with them and when we can deal with them, that's today's topic," he said.
	Slovakian Finance Minister Peter Kazimir warned the meeting "is not going to be an easy one".
	"I'm afraid we will spend the night together," he said, harking back to the long nights of talks that led up to last year's bailout.
	The ministers ...

Greek bailout without IMF 'not an option': Dijsselbloem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's travel expenses came under fresh scrutiny today ahead of the expected release of an official report into alleged overcharging and other matters.
	The state comptroller's report covers 2003-05, when Netanyahu was finance minister, and concerns five foreign trips, some with his wife and children, Israeli media reported.
	State Comptroller Yosef Shapira, who is tasked with overseeing the use of public funds, was investigating allegations of double billing of flights, reported the Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspapers -- both hostile to Netanyahu.
	The report, expected to be released later today, is said to note a "lack of clarity" over bonus points earned on flights by the Israeli company El Al during official trips, they reported.
	The bonus points were allegedly used by Netanyahu's relatives for private travel.
	Privately owned Channel 2 television reported the police have renewed an inquiry into the allegations to determine whether ..

Israel PM's travel expenses under scrutiny

The Afghan Taliban are struggling to find a successor to slain chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, militant sources said today, with one saying the two main contenders had backed out of the leadership race.
	Mullah Yakoub, the Taliban founder's son, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, an implacable foe of US forces, were seen as the two frontrunners for the job after Mansour was killed Saturday in a rare American drone strike deep inside Pakistan.
	"Yakoub has refused to accept the role, saying he is too young for it," a senior Taliban source in northwest Pakistan told AFP.
	"Mansour's deputy and operational head of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, has also refused due to personal reasons."
	That development will complicate the job of the Taliban's supreme council, which has been holding emergency meetings since Sunday at an undisclosed location in Pakistan to find a unifying figure for the leadership post.
	The insurgents have yet to officially confirm the death of Mansour, which has thrown the 

Afghan Taliban struggle to select Mansour's successor

Iran's Assembly of Experts chose another hardline cleric as its chief today, keeping the powerful religious body in ultraconservative hands despite gains by reformists and moderates in February elections.
	The assembly oversees the work of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and would choose the 76-year-old's successor if he dies during its eight-year term.
	Its 88 members elected Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, 89, as chairman, defeating two conservatives.
	The cleric is one of the few hardliners who secured re-election in the February vote that saw a landslide for reformist and moderates in the capital and big gains elsewhere.
	The hardliner also chairs the Guardian Council, the body which vets all candidates for public office in Iran and has a veto over all legislation.
	The council sparked controversy in February's election by disqualifying thousands of hopefuls, most of them reformists.
	The 88-member assembly has proven well beyond the reach of reformists, although moderate President 

Hardliner elected head of key Iran oversight body

Iraqi forces cleared areas around Fallujah today after launching an assault to retake the city, tightening their siege on Islamic State group fighters but also raising fears for civilians trapped inside.
	With the jihadists surrounded and outnumbered, the recapture of their iconic bastion looked ultimately inevitable, especially after IS suffered a string of losses in recent months.
	But illustrating that even a diminished IS is still dangerous, the group has struck back with a wave of bomb attacks, including a series of blasts that left more than 160 dead in Syrian regime coastal strongholds on Monday.
	Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the start of the operation to retake Fallujah yesterday and less than a day into the battle, Iraqi forces had secured the nearby town of Garma.
	That cut off IS fighters in Fallujah from one of their last support areas and paved the way for more advances towards the city, which lies only 50 kilometres west of Baghdad.
	"Federal forces ...

Civilians trapped as Iraq forces close in on Fallujah

Indonesia has opened a string of new sectors to foreign businesses to attract more investment and help pull Southeast Asia's biggest economy out of a slowdown, an official said today.
	Restrictions have been eased on investing in host of industries from tourism and agriculture to transportation and entertainment.
	Foreign firms are allowed to own different shares in businesses depending on the sector, according to the new regulation.
	Overseas companies seeking to operate in Indonesia had long complained of rising protectionism pushed by nationalist politicians and domestic firms worried about losing out to foreign competitors.
	Peter Fanning, chairman of the International Business Chamber in Jakarta, said the changes were positive but cautioned more still needed to be done.
	"I think it's a move in the right direction," he said.
	The changes were made through alterations to the Negative Investment List, which bans foreign companies from operating in certain sectors.
	The move was ...

Indonesia opens new sectors to foreign investment

Venezuelans today woke up to discover that the government-controlled price of corn flour - used to make corn patty arepas, a staple of local cuisine - has risen 900 per cent.
	The socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro had kept the price of corn flour frozen for 15 months at 19 bolivares a kilo.
	But late yesterday the government's Superintendent of Fair Prices increased the price to 190 bolivares a kilo, or USD 19 at the government rate used for imports like medicine and scarce food.
	Flour is one of the most scarce food basics, and the Venezuelan Association of Corn Flour Industrialists has been asking for a price increase, arguing that the low government-set price does not cover the cost of production.
	The Superintendent also said that the price of chicken would rise, up 13 times from 65 bolivares a kilo to 850 bolivares.
	The price of chicken had also been frozen since February 2015.
	Venezuela is enduring the world's highest inflation rate: 180 per cent in 2015, and a .

Price of corn flour in Venezuela up 900 per cent

Seven Ukrainian soldiers have died in the country's war-torn east over the past 24 hours in the biggest number of casualties in a single day this year, Kiev said today.
	"As a result of shelling, seven Ukrainian soldiers have died and nine received injuries over the past 24 hours," Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said in a statement.

AFP

AFP

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