An Argentine judge today ordered the seizure of USD 156 million and other assets from British and US oil companies looking for crude in waters off the disputed Falkland Islands.
	   Judge Lilian Herraez, based in the Tierra del Fuego region of southern Argentina, also ordered the firms to stop their exploration activities.
	   Argentina claims sovereignty over the British-controlled islands in the South Atlantic and the two countries went to war over them in 1982.
	   Animosity between Britain and Argentina over the islands has escalated sharply in recent years with the discovery of significant oil deposits offshore.
	   Herraez said the companies are operating in Argentine territorial waters, but it was not clear how Argentina would enforce the order seeking to seize the money and oil exploration equipment such as ships and a floating dike.
	   The war lasted 74 days and left nearly 1,000 people dead. It ended when a British expeditionary force sent by the government in London ...

Argentina orders asset seizure from Falkland oil firms

PTI Automatic

Malawi has launched an investigation into the root cause of a recent spate of murders of albinos, a senior official said today, as the country marked international albinism awareness day.
	There was a need to educate citizens to "change their mindset (and understand) that albinos do not have any magical powers", Isaac Katopola, deputy secretary in the social welfare ministry, told AFP.
	Albinos, who are very pale due to a hereditary genetic condition that causes an absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, are sometimes killed for their body parts for use in witchcraft.
	Katopola said "officially six albinos have been killed" since a surge in attacks began in December, while UN agencies in Malawi put the figure at nine.
	There was also "continued exhumation of albino remains for their bones", he said.
	The two-month probe, which is being supported  by the United Nations Children's Fund and UN Women,  will also establish "where the market for body parts is among Malawi, ...

Malawi to probe 'root cause' of albino killings

A protester scaled a flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina legislature today and removed the Confederate flag, officials said, amid fierce debate about the racially charged symbol.
	The black woman climber was arrested as soon as she came down from the 30 foot (nine meter) pole, and a new flag was restored to the original position with an hour.
	Pictures on social media showed a woman, named as Bree Newsome, 30, being escorted by an officer, her hands behind her back. #FreeBree was trending on Twitter within hours of the dawn incident.
	Also arrested was a 30-year-old white man named as James Ian Tyson. Both are from neighboring North Carolina and have been charged with defacing a monument.
	"A BPS officer was on routine patrol and had just made rounds when he was notified by other officers monitoring the flag that a woman was climbing the flagpole where the Confederate flag flies on the north side of the state house," said a statement from South Carolina Department of Public .

US protester removes Confederate flag from state house

An alleged Pakistani militant, killed en route to court in Jammu and Kashmir, was buried today after his body was returned home by India, officials said.
	   A charged crowd of around 5,000 people including leaders of militant organisation attended the funeral in Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and chanted slogans against India.
	   Officials described the return of Waheed Noor Khan's body as the first time such an exchange had happened.
	   "It has happened for the first time that India has handed over dead body of a militant to Pakistan," Hamid Mughul, a senior administration official in PoK, told AFP.
	   The disputed Kashmir region has been divided between India and Pakistan since the two countries gained independence in 1947. Both claim it in its entirety.
	   The deceased Khan was arrested by Indian forces around six years ago while he was crossing the border.
	   Khan was acquitted of three charges in Jammu and Kashmir but was killed in a bomb blast on June 20 in ..

Pak holds funeral of Kashmir militant returned by India

A 6-year-old boy has died in Spain's first case of diphtheria since 1987, his hospital said today.
	The child had not been vaccinated against the disease amid controversy over the potential side-effects of the jab, and had been fighting the bacterial infection for a month.
	The Vall d'Hebrone hospital in Barcelona confirmed on its Twitter account "the death of a patient with diphtheria" who had been hospitalised at the end of May.
	An infection that mostly affects the nose and throat, diphtheria is highly contagious but has become increasingly rare in western Europe in recent decades due to high rates of vaccination.
	The little boy's treatment had suffered delays due to the difficulty in finding the right antitoxin in Europe. It was finally provided by Russia.
	Nine other children and an adult were exposed to the bacteria but did not develop the disease, having all been vaccinated, according to health services in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region.
	The decision by the boy's ...

6-year-old dies in Spain's first diphtheria case since 1987

Sri Lanka's election chief today warned civil servants they will face fines and three years in prison for failing to ensure a free and fair parliamentary election announced for August.
	The head of the independent elections commission, Mahinda Deshapriya, said he has been given wide powers under a recent statute to deal with civil servants who violated elections laws and favoured candidates.
	"I have powers now to jail public servants for a period of three years and also fine them up to 100,000 rupees (USD 770)," Deshapriya told reporters a day after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked parliament and cleared the way for an election 10 months ahead of schedule.
	Almost all previous elections have been marred by allegations that state officials colluded with the party in power to give them an undue advantage at the polls.
	Independent poll monitors have also reported large scale abuse of state vehicles and other resources to boost the campaign of the party in power.
	At the previous ..

Lanka civil servants warned of jail if election laws violated

China's central bank said today it would again reduce interest rates by 25 basis points, its fourth such cut since November as it tries to boost growth.
	The benchmark interest rate would be reduced to 4.85 per cent and the deposit rate to 2 per cent from tomorrow, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said on its website.
	The PBoC also announced that it will cut the reserve requirement ratios (RRR) by 50 basis points for commercial banks serving rural areas, agriculture and small businesses.
	The PBoC has now cut interest rates four times since November and this year also reduced the amount of cash banks must keep in reserve three times, as well as using other measures to inject liquidity into the market.
	The bank said the latest moves were aimed at "stabilising growth" and "to further enhance the efficiency of monetary policy to (support) economic transformations" and are similar to cuts made last month.
	China's economic growth has slowed, with gross domestic product (GDP) expanding .

China central bank cuts interest rate by 25 basis points

Key conditions for a "robust" nuclear deal between Iran and world powers are not yet accepted by all parties, France's foreign minister said today as he arrived for talks on finalising the accord.
	"We want a robust accord that recognises Iran's right to a civilian nuclear programme but which guarantees that Iran definitively renounces nuclear weapons," Laurent Fabius told reporters in Vienna.
	"We believe there are at least three indispensable conditions. These are a lasting limitation of Iran's nuclear capacities in research and production. The second is a solid verification of sites including military bases if necessary. The third is an automatic return of sanctions in case of violations of the engagements made (under an accord)," he said.
	"These three conditions respect the sovereignty of Iran. They are not yet accepted by all parties even though they are the basis for the robust accord that we want."
	The comments came as Fabius, seen as something of a hardliner on Iran, arrived 

Key conditions for Iran deal not yet accepted by all: France

By acting alone and employing the shock tactic of decapitation, the suspect in France's latest attack appeared to be following to the letter the gruesome orders of Islamist groups.
	Last year, the spokesman of the Islamic State extremist group urged followers to "kill a disbelieving American or European -- especially the spiteful and filthy French" by any means that came to hand.
	"Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him," said Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the group's spokesman.
	While no group has claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack, there were nonetheless chilling echoes of Adnani's exhortations.
	The suspect, 35-year-old father-of-three Yassin Salhi, allegedly severed his boss's head and attached it to a fence before driving headlong into a gas factory in an apparent bid to blow it and himself sky high.
	Nearby Salhi's almost destroyed vehicle, authorities found a 

France 'lone wolf' attacker adopts Islamist orders

Hundreds of police closed in today on a convicted murderer who busted out of a maximum-security New York prison, a day after authorities shot dead his fellow escapee in a three-week manhunt.
	Richard Matt, 49, was killed yesterday in the town of Malone, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Canadian border, and the net appeared to be closing on his accomplice David Sweat.
	Police believe they have the 35-year-old Sweat, who was serving a life sentence without parole for murdering a sheriff's deputy in 2002, contained within a perimeter, CNN reported.
	The duo, whom police described as dangerous and possibly armed, used power tools to cut their way out of their cells at the Clinton Correctional Facility -- about 40 miles from Malone -- before dawn on June 6 in a spectacular prison break likened to a Hollywood movie.
	Matt's bid for freedom reached a fatal conclusion yesterday after he apparently fired at a passing camper van, with more than 1,000 police and agents in hot ...

Police hunt for remaining New York prison escapee

Five civilians and three soldiers were killed in an attack by rebels on a Congolese army camp near Beni in the restive east of the country.
	An AFP photographer saw the bodies of the victims as well as those of eight alleged guerilla fighters killed by the army after the raid yesterday at May-Moya in North Kivu province.
	The killings are the latest blamed on Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who are accused of murdering around 400 people in nine months of massacres in and around the major eastern trading hub of Beni.
	The mainly Muslim rebels attacked the military camp with automatic weapons before being driven back after several hours of fighting, a senior army officer at the scene told AFP.
	Some 20 homes nearby were also burned down during the raid, the photographer reported.
	Most of the ADF's victims have been hacked to death with machetes in atrocities that prompted a joint operation by the Congolese army and UN troops in December to root out the rebels, who 

5 civilians and 3 soldiers killed in DR Congo rebel raid

Greek lawmakers debated a surprise bailout referendum today amid signs of customers queuing to withdraw money from banks as fears of a default intensified.
	Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who delivered his shock referendum call in a televised address early Saturday, will address parliament later, with a vote on whether to go ahead with the plebiscite scheduled for midnight.
	The bombshell shocked the nation, with people reportedly rushing to withdraw money in fear of capital controls and more financial chaos after nearly six years of crisis and deep recession.
	Tsipras' radical leftist Syriza party urged Greeks to vote against the deal, arguing it would worsen austerity in a nation already buckling under economic hardship.
	Greece will now hold a referendum on July 5 on the outcome of negotiations with its international creditors taking place in Brussels on Saturday.
	In Greece's second city, Thessaloniki, some banks have run out of money, according to an AFP reporter, while a ...

Greece debates referendum amid fears of run on banks

Iraqi forces have arrested Abd al-Baqi al-Saadun, one of the most senior officials from Saddam Hussein's regime still at large, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said today.
	"The intelligence service was able to arrest the wanted man Abd al-Baqi al-Saadun," Abadi announced in a televised speech.
	A senior intelligence officer said Saadun was arrested on Thursday "without resistance" in the northern province of Kirkuk following an operation that lasted more than a year.
	Saadun held various senior positions in Saddam's Baath party, and the US military had previously said he was wanted for crimes against humanity committed during the suppression of a 1999 Shiite uprising.
	He was the five of diamonds in the US military deck of cards picturing the most-wanted officials from Saddam's regime.
	Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the most senior Baathist still at large, was said to have been killed earlier this year, but Iraq later admitted it lacked the necessary DNA results to confirm his identity.
	And 

Iraq announces arrest of senior Saddam-era official

A Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail and on hunger strike for 53 days is in a critical condition and could die "at any moment", his lawyer said today.
	"Khader Adnan may suddenly die at any moment, doctors have confirmed to me,"  Jawad Boulos, legal counsel for the Ramallah-based Prisoners Club told AFP.
	He said he received a call in the middle of the night saying "that the doctors at the Israeli hospital, where Khadar Adnan is currently held, were on alert due to the deterioration of his condition".
	Boulos said he made a bedside visit to his client this morning and found him "in a more critical condition, incapable of moving".
	Israel Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said Adnan was receiving treatment in Assaf Harofeh hospital near Tel Aviv, but she could not comment on his medical condition.
	Adnan is being held in "administrative detention", a procedure under which Israel imprisons Palestinian suspects without trial indefinitely for renewable six-month ...

Palestinian hunger striker 'close to death':lawyer

Islamic State group jihadists have killed at least 40 Syrian government forces in consecutive attacks on three checkpoints in central Syria, a monitor said today.
	In less than two hours of clashes yesterday, IS jihadists seized the checkpoints near Sheikh Hilal, a village in Syria's Hama province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	"The clashes killed 40 government loyalists, including soldiers and members of the National Defence Forces," a local pro-regime militia, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
	He told AFP that the jihadists later withdrew from the checkpoints when it appeared that government forces in the region had called for reinforcements.
	"There's fighting almost every day in this area, but usually the toll is two or three people. Forty is very high," he told AFP.
	The checkpoints lie along a road used by government forces to dispatch reinforcements to Aleppo in the north, where the regime has been battling rebel groups since 2012.
	"If they seize ...

IS raids kill 40 Syrian regime forces: monitor

Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem today said Greece's decision to hold a referendum over the future of its bailout programme was a "sad" decision that shut the door to further talks.
	"I am very negatively surprised by today's decision by the Greek government," the Dutch finance minister said as he arrived for talks with his eurozone counterparts.
	"They have apparently rejected the last proposals on the table from the three institutions and on that negative basis... Have proposed a referendum with negative advice for the Greek people," he said.
	"That is a sad decision for Greece because it has closed the door for further talks where the door was still open in my mind," Dijsselbloem said.
	"We will hear from the Greek minister about whether all this is correct and then we will talk about the consequences that will have," he added.
	Christine Lagarde, the head of Greece's most hardline creditor, the IMF, said the lender would keep working on Greece's economy despite the ...

Eurogroup head says Greece has closed door to further talks

Valentino Rossi strengthened his world championship lead today by coming out on top in a thrilling battle with Marc Marquez to win the Dutch MotoGP here.
     The Italian, on his Yamaha, started from pole and led almost all the way, although reigning world champion Marquez did briefly overtake seven laps from the end.
     Rossi quickly regained the lead and then held off one last desperate push on the final corner by the Spaniard, on a Honda, to claim his third win of the season and the 111th victory of his illustrious career.
     "This win is very important because I was competitive all weekend," said Rossi, whose final winning margin was 1.242 seconds.
     "I started from pole and pushed throughout the race. The pace was very strong but Marquez came with me. I tried to play all my cards and did the two last laps very strong."
     For Rossi it was a seventh MotoGP win on the famous Assen track, one more than the six victories recorded by his legendary Italian compatriot Giacomo ..

Rossi holds off Marquez to win Dutch MotoGP

Attackers in Burundi set fire to a building storing election material today, two days ahead of key polls and following weeks of violence over President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to stay in power.
	National electoral commission officials confirmed the attack in the northeast Ntega district, some 200 kilometres from the capital Bujumbura, but there was no indication who was responsible.
	Parliamentary and local elections are set to be held in the central African nation on Monday, and a presidential vote on July 15. The opposition yesterday said it was boycotting polls, claiming it is not possible to hold a fair vote.
	"A group of unidentified young people took advantage of the police who were sleeping on duty and torched a building housing election material," local governor Reverien Nzigamasabo told AFP. "Part of the ballot boxes and voting booths were burned, but people were able to save the rest."
	Soldiers fired shots at the gang to chase them away, police said.
	Two grenades were also 

Burundi election material torched ahead of polls

Two of the victims in the jihadist attack at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait were Iranian nationals, Iran said today after condemning the atrocity and others in Tunisia and France.
	"Sadly, two of our compatriots who were residents of Kuwait were martyred in the terrorist-suicide attack" on Al-Imam Al-Sadeq Mosque, Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told the official IRNA news agency.
	She said news of the deaths was "based on received reports, and confirmed by official sources at Iran's embassy" in the Gulf state.
	A suicide bomber struck the mosque on Friday, killing 26 in the capital Kuwait City during noon prayers.
	Afkham did not mention if the Iranian victims would be repatriated. Kuwait said it would hold a mass funeral for the victims today.
	The attack was part of an international Islamist assault yesterday: a gunman shot dozens of Western, mostly British, tourists at a beach resort in Tunisia and in France, a lone killer beheaded his boss then pinned the ...

Two Iranians among Kuwait mosque dead: official

Kurdish forces drove Islamic State group fighters from the flashpoint Syrian border town of Kobane today, after a killing spree by the jihadists left more than 200 civilians dead.
	Fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) stormed IS's last remaining position, taking full control of Kobane, a powerful symbol of Kurdish resistance.
	As they combed the streets looking for fugitive jihadists, the Kurdish fighters found more bodies, taking the civilian death toll to 206, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	Local journalist Rudi Mohammad Amin told AFP that more civilians were still unaccounted for.
	The jihadists made their last stand in a boys' high school building.
	"The YPG detonated explosives outside of the school, then stormed it," Amin said, speaking via the Internet from a position near Kobane, on the border with Turkey.
	"This military operation was carried out after ensuring that there were no civilians left in the school."
	Amin said he believed all the .

Kurds oust IS from Syria's Kobane as civilian toll mounts

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said today that Iraqi forces made an "unauthorised" withdrawal from Ramadi last month, leading to the Islamic State group's takeover of the Anbar provincial capital.
	"The withdrawal of the forces from Ramadi was unauthorised -- the orders were the opposite. The forces had to resist, and if they had resisted, we would not have lost Ramadi," Abadi said in televised remarks.
	Ramadi fell to the jihadist group in mid-May after government forces had held out against militants there for more than a year.
	It was Baghdad's worst setback in months after its forces had retaken significant territory in two provinces north of the capital.
	Abadi's remarks came a week after a senior officer in the US-led coalition against IS said the withdrawal was militarily unnecessary.
	"Ramadi was lost because the Iraqi commander in Ramadi elected to withdraw. In other words, if he had elected to stay, he would still be there today," said Brigadier Christopher Ghika of the ...

AFP

AFP

Page 2233 - Afp