Azeri troops have killed 18 Armenian soldiers, President Serzh Sarkisian said today, after heavy fighting erupted over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.
	"From our side 18 soldiers were killed and some 35 others wounded," Sarkisian said in a televised statement.
	He did not specify if the soldiers belonged to Yerevan-backed separatist forces in Karabakh or Armenia's armed forces.
	Earlier today Azerbaijan's defence ministry said that 12 its soldiers were killed in Karabakh and a military helicopter was shot down.
	The surge in fighting over the disputed territory -- which separatist Armenian-backed forces captured from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s -- reportedly also claimed the lives of one Armenian and one Azeri civilian after the arch foes accused each other of unleashing heavy weaponry across the volatile frontline.
	Ethnic Armenian separatists seized control of the mountainous Nagorny Karabakh region in an early 1990s war that claimed some 30,000 lives and the two sides have .

18 Armenian soldiers killed in Karabakh clashes: Armenian Prez

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Brussels Airport said it will partially reopen tomorrow, 12 days after it was hit by Islamic State suicide blasts, as Belgian prosecutors charged a third suspect with terrorism over a foiled plot to attack France.
	The first three "symbolic flights" will begin departing from afternoon, Brussels Airport chief executive Arnaud Feist told reporters, adding that travellers will be subject to additional security checks as police had demanded.
	"These flights are the first hopeful sign from an airport that is standing up straight after a cowardly attack," Feist said.
	Passengers will have to make use of a temporary check-in facility as the airport's departure hall was wrecked in the March 22 blasts that also struck a metro station in Brussels and killed 32 people.
	The attacks came just four days after Belgium arrested the prime suspect in last November's Paris terror assaults and links have emerged between the attackers, exposing a web of cross-border jihadist networks.
	European ...

Brussels airport to reopen tomorrow with security boost

Syrian troops have found a mass grave containing the bodies of 42 people executed by Islamic State jihadists in Palmyra, as Washington warned the group's leader will eventually "taste justice".
	IS has in recent months claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Brussels and Paris, but has lost ground in Syria and Iraq.
	Days after Syrian troops backed by Russian forces recaptured Palmyra and its ancient ruins, the army "uncovered a mass grave of officers, soldiers, members of the popular committees (pro-regime militia) and their relatives," a military source told AFP today.
	Twenty-four of the victims were civilians, including three children, he said, asking not to be named.
	"They were executed either by beheading or by shooting."
	The bodies, which were found yesterday, have been transferred to a military hospital in the provincial capital Homs and some have been identified.
	In a major symbolic and strategic coup for President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian army on Sunday recaptured 

Mass grave of victims of IS found in Syria's Palmyra

Greek authorities were gearing up today to send hundreds of failed asylum-seekers back to Turkey, which is racing to set up reception centres under a controversial EU migrant deal.
	"Planning is in progress," Yiorgos Kyritsis, spokesman for Greece's refugee coordination unit, told AFP as Greek state agency ANA said some 750 migrants would be sent back between Monday and Wednesday, the first wave of deportations under the much-criticised deal.
	ANA said the migrants would be sent back from the island of Lesbos to the Turkish port of Dikili, adding that EU border agency Frontex had chartered two Turkish leisure vessels for the operation.
	There will be one Frontex agent onboard for every single migrant, ANA said. Kyritsis declined to comment on the report.
	On the other side of the Aegean -- a sea crossed this year alone by more than 150,000 people searching for a new life in Europe -- work is underway on a centre in the Turkish tourist resort of Cesme to host those sent back, the ...

Greece readies to send first migrants back in EU-Turkey deal

Brazil's government sounded the alarm today over poor sales of Olympic tickets just five months before Rio hosts South America's first Summer Games.
	With worries about the Zika virus, high crime and a major political crisis already overshadowing the August 5 opening ceremony, Brazil now faces the embarrassing prospect of empty stadiums.
	Only 50 percent of tickets to the Olympics have been sold so far, Rio 2016 organizing committee spokesman Phil Wilkinson told AFP today. For the Paralympics, which follow the main Games, the figure is far worse: only 12 percent sold.
	Ricardo Leyser, who this week replaced George Hilton as Brazil's minister of sport, said in an interview with Folha newspaper that he was working on a plan to boost purchases.
	One measure could be the government buying up unsold tickets, particularly for the Paralympics, and distributing them among schools.
	"There is a perception that the Brazilian population has not yet woken up for the Games. We are going to work ...

Brazil govt could buy up poorly selling Olympic tickets

A fire broke out today at a shopping complex under construction near one of the stadiums that will host matches during the World Cup in 2022, Qatar's interior ministry said.
	"Civil Defence is fighting a blaze that broke out at an under-construction shopping complex (near) Rayyan Sports Club," the ministry tweeted.
	Local media said the fire broke out at the construction site of the Mall of Qatar, which will be the Gulf country's largest shopping centre when it opens later this year.
	Pictures circulated on social media showing plumes of black smoke billowing from the construction site.
	There were no immediate reports of casualties.
	Qatar is engaged in multi-billion-dollar work on projects directly or indirectly related to the 2022 World Cup.
	The Mall of Qatar is a 500,000-square-metre retail and entertainment complex near the 40,000-seater Al-Rayyan stadium, which is undergoing renovation for the World Cup.

Fire at under-construction Qatar shopping complex

A South African anti-apartheid veteran who was jailed with Nelson Mandela has urged beleaguered President Jacob Zuma to step down after a damning ruling found him in violation of the constitution.
	In an open letter seen today, Ahmed Kathrada, 86, joined a growing chorus of leading figures calling for Zuma to leave office.
	The criticism comes after the Constitutional Court on Thursday found Zuma in breach of the constitution for using public funds to upgrade his private home at Nkandla village.
	Zuma, who has long denied wrongdoing for the work valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then USD 24 million), yesterday apologised to the nation for the misuse of public funds.
	In his letter dated March 31 Kathrada asked if Zuma did not think that his continued stay would deepen the crisis of confidence in the government.
	"Today I appeal to our President to submit to the will of the people and resign," read the letter published in local media.
	"I know that if I were in the President's shoes, 

S Africa anti-apartheid stalwart asks Zuma to step down

Brussels airport is to reopen tomorrow, 12 days after its departure hall was wrecked by Islamic State suicide bombings, with chief executive Arnaud Feist announcing three flights.
	"From Sunday morning, Brussels Airport should be partially operational," Feist told a press conference today, adding that the resumption of services "plays an important role in our grieving process".
	"This restart, even if it's only partially, is a sign of hope," he said.
	The first scheduled flights to Athens, Turin and Faro will be operated by Brussels Airlines and start leaving from tomorrow afternoon.
	A total of 32 people were killed in the March 22 attacks on the airport and a metro station in Brussels.

Brussels airport to reopen Sunday with 3 flights scheduled

Brussels airport to reopen Sunday with three flights

Azerbaijan said today that Armenian forces killed 12 of its soldiers and shot down a helicopter as fierce fighting erupted between the arch-foes over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.
	"Twelve Azeri servicemen were killed in action and a helicopter was shot down by Armenian forces," Azerbaijan's defence ministry said in a statement, also claiming that Azeri forces took control of "two strategic heights and a village" in Karabakh.

Azerbaijan says Armenian forces kill 12 soldiers, down chopper

Five young Frenchmen and two foreign restaurant workers were killed today when two cars collided on a highway near Figueras in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, officials said.
	The Frenchmen, aged between 19 and 22, were travelling at high speed in a Volkswagen Golf when they crashed into a car taking workers to a restaurant, said Jordi Jane, director of the Catalan interior department, at a press conference shown on local television.
	The two male workers killed in the accident were a Moroccan and a Colombian and were on their way to a restaurant in Perthus in the French Pyrenees. The Spanish driver of their car was hospitalised.
	On March 20, 13 foreign-exchange students were killed when the driver of their bus crashed into an oncoming car in southern Catalonia as they returned from a festival in the province of Valencia.
	The accidents are among the deadliest in Spain in recent years. In November 2014, a bus carrying pilgrims fell into a ravine in the southeast of the .

Seven foreigners killed in car collision in Spain: officials

The US government is warning its citizens to avoid visiting southeastern Tunisia near the Libyan border as well as the country's mountainous western areas due to "the threat of terrorism."
	In a travel warning out yesterday, the State Department warns that Islamic State group jihadists have targeted Tunisian security officials, tourists and civilians in the regions.
	The warning urges US citizens to "exercise caution" in Tunisia "when frequenting public venues," especially tourist sites, and to avoid political gatherings, "rallies, large crowds and demonstrations, as even demonstrations that are meant to be peaceful can be unpredictable."
	Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from jihadist violence since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
	A raid on the Libyan frontier town of Ben Guerdane, blamed on the IS group, killed 20 people in March.
	Last year IS claimed responsibility for attacks on the Bardo museum in Tunis and a ...

US issues travel alert for southeastern Tunisia

Italian investigators have widened a probe into a nurse suspected of being a serial killer following pressure from relatives of people died at a Tuscan hospital, media reports said today.
	Investigators believe 13 patients, all seriously but not terminally ill, died as a result of being given strong doses of the anticoagulant drug Eparina in the town of Piombino -- and have not ruled out uncovering other suspicious deaths.
	"Prosecutors and health police are extending their investigation" into Fausta Bonino, 56, as well as speaking to family members of other possible victims, public broadcaster Rai said, after the nurse was accused of administering fatal doses of the blood-thinning drug to patients in intensive care Between January 2014 and September 2015.
	"We never really understood what happened. Now we want to know if that nurse was working the day my father died," a man known only as Massimo told La Stampa daily about the death of his 77-year old parent in 2014.
	While police ...

Bereaved relatives fear Italy nurse 'may have killed others'

Greece today demanded "explanations" from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after Wikileaks said the lender sought a crisis "event" to push the indebted nation into concluding talks over its reforms.
	IMF officials, in an internal discussion, allegedly voiced exasperation with Greece on its slow pace of reform, complaining Athens only moved decisively when faced with the peril of default, the website said.
	An "event" was thus needed to drive the threat of default and get the Greeks to act, one official purportedly says.
	The "event" is not described in the transcript placed on the Wikileaks website today. The official, assessing the state of the talks and the political calendar, predicts the European Union will stop discussions "for a month" before Britain's EU referendum on June 23.
	The Greek government reacted strongly to the report, saying it wanted the IMF to clarify its position.
	"The Greek government is demanding explanations from the IMF over whether seeking to create ...

Greece wants IMF explanations over Wikileaks report: official

An Egyptian court sentenced today a policeman to life in prison for shooting dead a driver over a fare dispute, a judicial source said, a case that provoked outrage over police abuses.
	Mustafa Mahmud was referred to an expedited trial after he shot dead Mohamed Ali Sayed Ismail with his police issue firearm in February, sparking rare protests and an apology from the interior ministry.
	Mahmud had hired Ismail to transport his belongings when they had a dispute over the fare that turned violent.
	A life sentence in Egypt is 25 years. Mahmud can appeal the verdict issued by the Cairo criminal court.
	President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had said he would ask parliament to amend the law to toughen sanctions for police abuses after the incident.
	Police have been on the defensive after a string of deaths in custody, reminiscent of abuses that sparked an 18-day uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
	Five years on, human rights groups are again denouncing torture and ...

Egypt sentences policeman to life for killing driver

Some of the money to make the hit movie "The Wolf of Wall Street" was allegedly laundered from a scandal-hit Malaysian firm founded by the country's leader, the Wall Street Journal reported.
	Embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been under fire over allegations that hundreds of millions of dollars were stolen from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), and his acceptance of a USD 681 million overseas payment.
	Both Najib and the now debt-stricken company strongly deny any wrongdoing.
	According to the WSJ, it took six years to produce the movie, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and is directed by Martin Scorsese, because Hollywood studios were reluctant to invest in an R-rated movie about financial corruption.
	A small production company called Red Granite Pictures, which had made only one movie, came up with the more than USD 100 million needed to turn the film into reality, the newspaper said in its report yesterday.
	Global investigators believe much of that ...

Malaysia's 1MDB financed 'Wolf of Wall Street': report

Turkish authorities today raced to set up reception centres to process Syrian and other migrants two days ahead of the implementation of a hugely controversial deal with the EU for them to be sent back from Greece to Turkish soil.
	Turkey is due to start receiving migrants who crossed the Aegean Sea for EU member Greece from Monday but so far details have been vague over how the transfer will be implemented.
	Work has now started on a centre in the major Aegean tourist resort of Cesme in Izmir province, which faces the Greek island of Chios that has been a major target for migrants, the town's mayor said today.
	Local officials in Dikili, also in Izmir province on the Aegean and facing the Greek island of Lesbos -- have said a readmission centre is being established in the region for migrants being sent back from Greece.
	Water pipes and electricity cables are being laid for the 500 square-metre area by the Ulusoy harbour in Cesme, mayor Muhittin Dalgic was quoted as saying by the ...

Turkey readies centres for migrants turned back under EU deal

Turkish authorities today detained the suspected perpetrator of a car bomb attack in its main Kurdish-majority city that killed seven police, as a new bombing hit the troubled southeast.
	The suspect, named as AC, was detained in the Kocakoy district of Diyarbakir, where the seven police were killed and 27 others wounded by Thursday's massive car bomb attack on a police bus, the Dogan news agency reported.
	The attack was claimed on Friday by the military wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which had been battling the security forces since a truce broke down last summer.
	The bombing -- unlike previous recent attacks in Turkey -- was not a suicide attack but remotely detonated, officials said at the time.
	Dogan said AC is believed to be the man recorded on security camera footage walking away just before the attack from a parked white car which would later explode when the police bus passed.
	The Dogan report said nine others suspected of links to the attacks had been .

Turkey detains 'perpetrator of Diyarbakir car bombing': report

Russian President Vladimir Putin today called for an immediate end to fighting along the front line of Nagorny Karabakh, after Armenia and Azerbaijan said fierce clashes had erupted in the disputed region.
	"President Putin calls on the parties in the conflict to observe an immediate ceasefire and exercise restraint in order to prevent further casualties," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.

Putin calls for immediate ceasefire along Karabakh frontline

A four-door hatchback Pope Francis used while visiting New York in September has fetched USD 300,000 at auction, said the website that held the sale.
	The black Fiat 500 Lounge was one of two such mini Popemobiles that ferried the pontiff around the Big Apple.
	At more than 12 times its base price, it was snapped up by millionaire businessman Miles Nadal, who already owns more than 130 cars and motorbikes, according to the Charitybuzz auction website.
	Proceeds will go to Catholic schools and charities in the New York diocese, as well as two international agencies: Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
	"In a couple of occasions, (Pope Francis) was in the Popemobile. For the rest of his time, when he was not in the Popemobile, this is how he traveled around in the motorcade," New York Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling told AFP earlier this week.
	The second Fiat will also be used to raise money for charitable causes, although plans have not been .

Fiat used by Pope in New York fetches USD 300,000

A Russian tourist was mauled to death by a crocodile in a popular diving site in Eastern Indonesia, an official said today.
	The body of Sergey Lykhvar was discovered on Tuesday in Raja Ampat islands of West Papua, four days after he was reported missing.
	Local search and rescue head Prasetyo Budiarto said Lykhvar was reported missing to the authorities last week, one day after he left to snorkel around the remote Minyaifun island.
	Budiarto told AFP that rescuers spotted a large saltwater crocodile trailing behind Lykhvar's body when he was discovered.
	"We believe he was killed by a crocodile judging from the missing body parts and the extent of his injuries," he said.
	The 37-year-old normally snorkelled with his friends and a guide but decided go alone the morning before he was reported missing, Budiarto said.
	He added that the location where Lykhvar's body was retrieved was quite remote, and dangerous because of the strong currents and sharp rocks.
	The Russian tourist's body ..

AFP

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