Leg-spinner Yasir Shah claimed three wickets as Pakistan halted Sri Lanka's march towards a big first-innings lead in the second Test at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo

Yasir narrows Sri Lanka's advantage in second Test

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Israel voiced dismay today at the Vatican's first accord with Palestine and warned the move would harm efforts to renew peace talks.
	The foreign ministry expressed its "regret regarding the Vatican decision to officially recognise the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a state, in the agreement signed today," spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.
	"This hasty step damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement, and harms the international effort to convince the PA to return to direct negotiations with Israel," he said.
	The accord, a treaty covering the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, was the first since the Vatican recognised the Palestinian state in February 2013.
	The treaty, which took 15 years of negotiations to complete, was agreed in principle last month and bitterly condemned by Israel as a setback for the peace process.
	The Vatican's recognition of the state of Palestine followed a November 12 vote in favour of recognition by the UN General ...

Israel denounces historic Vatican accord with Palestine

At least one suspected Islamist launched a daylight raid on a gas factory in eastern France today, pinning a decapitated head to the gates and injuring at least two others with explosive devices.
	"The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack," said President Francois Hollande in Brussels, cutting short an EU summit to hold emergency meetings in the French capital.
	Hollande said a vehicle driven at high speed by "one person, maybe accompanied by another" smashed into the factory, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from France's second city Lyon.
	"At the time I am speaking, there is one dead and two injured," said a grim-faced Hollande, calling for "solidarity" for the victim, who was found with Arabic inscriptions on him.
	The 35-year-old attacker, identified as Yacine Salhi, had been known to security services for a number of years but did not have a criminal record, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
	He was taken into custody and an ...

One decapitated, several hurt in France 'terrorist' attack

Indonesia's anti-narcotics chief today warned women in the country to be careful when dating foreigners, suggesting they could be tricked into becoming drug mules.
	The remarks were the latest salvo in Indonesia's war on narcotics and came after eight drug convicts, including seven foreigners, were put to death by firing squad in April, sparking international anger.
	Head of the national anti-drugs agency, Anang Iskandar, said that many Indonesian women were languishing in prisons abroad because they were "easily tricked into drug-trafficking".
	"Do not be careless in relationships with foreigners," he warned in comments to reporters in Jakarta to mark the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse.
	"They give gifts of plane tickets, you have just got to know them and started dating. It is easy to be tempted, you have to be careful."
	Indonesia has faced criticism for focusing heavily on the role of foreigners in the country's drug problems, and failing to do enough to ...

Indonesian anti-drugs chief warns against foreign boyfriends

A Palestinian who opened fire on Israeli troops at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank died today after being shot and wounded, the army said.
	"I can confirm that he is dead," a spokeswoman told AFP hours after the shooting, without giving further details.
	The exchange of fire took place at the Bekaot checkpoint in the Jordan Valley on the second Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which Israel has eased some restrictions on Palestinian movement from the West Bank to Jerusalem.
	"A Palestinian vehicle reached the Bekaot checkpoint, the terrorist in the car fired at soldiers," who "responded and identified a hit," an army statement said.
	There has been sporadic violence in the Palestinian territories during Ramadan.
	On Sunday, a Palestinian from the West Bank stabbed an Israeli policeman near Jerusalem's Old City before being shot. Both were seriously wounded. In response, Israel revoked entry permits to residents of the knife man's village.
	On Tuesday, a ...

Palestinian shot by Israel troops in West Bank dies: army

The head of US intelligence has said that China is "the leading suspect" in a massive data breach of Washington's government personnel files, but that an investigation is ongoing.
	The comments from James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, were the first on the record remarks by an official implicating Beijing in the hack affecting millions of US government employees and others.
	Clapper yesterday told a Washington intelligence conference that "China remains the leading suspect"  but that "the US government continues to investigate" the hack, according to his office, which confirmed earlier media reports.
	Since the breach was made public earlier this month, US officials have said privately they believe China was involved, and cybersecurity specialists have said the breach appeared to be part of an effort to build a database that could be used for espionage purposes.
	The US Office of Personnel Management has said more than four million employees, retirees, contractors ...

US spy chief says China 'leading suspect' in hack

Hamas authorities ordered today the closure of the offices of Jawwal, the only mobile phone company operating in the Gaza Strip, accusing it of tax dodging.
	This could mean a shut-down of all mobile telephone services in the Mediterranean coastal enclave.
	"Public prosecutor Ismail Jabr has issued an order for the closure of the Jawwal company's headquarters as a preliminary measure against it for tax evasion," his office said in a statement.
	It warned that all other "tax dodgers will be pursued in earnest," a possible reference to banks operating in Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist movement.
	It was unclear when the offices would be closed.
	An executive from Jawwal, one of the principle telecoms providers in the Palestinian territories, insisted that "the company is not avoiding any of its (payment) commitments."
	Business analyst Omar Shaaban said the closure could mean cessation of all mobile phone services in Gaza.
	"There is no alternative in Gaza to the services ...

Hamas closing Gaza's mobile phone company over 'tax dodge'

French President Francois Hollande today said that a suspected Islamist attack on a gas factory in which a decapitated head was pinned to the gates was a "terrorist attack".
	Hollande, who rushed back to France from an EU summit to deal with the crisis, said the attacker had been identified and that there may have been a second person involved.
	"This attack was in a vehicle driven by one person, perhaps accompanied by another, which rammed its way at high speed into this establishment which contained bottles of gas," Hollande told a hastily-convened news conference before leaving Brussels.
	"The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack."
	France has been on high alert since January 7 when two Islamist brothers attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12.
	A policewoman and four hostages in a Jewish supermarket were killed by another Islamist shortly afterwards.
	The January attacks prompted record crowds to take to the streets of Paris ..

France's Hollande says factory attack was 'terrorist'

Thailand's junta today banned a news conference in Bangkok about the persecution of a Vietnamese religious minority, claiming it would affect "relations" with the country's communist authoritarian neighbour.
	The order to cancel the Human Rights Watch event about the mainly Christian ethnic Montagnards comes ahead of a scheduled trip to junta-ruled Thailand by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung next month.
	The cancellation, which was announced by police minutes before the briefing was due to start, is the third event this month to be shut down by authorities at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.
	A few dozen uniformed and plainclothes police officers mobilised outside and within the FCCT building Friday morning, the latest crackdown on free speech under the military regime that seized power last year.
	The HRW report, published to coincide with the planned event, accuses the Vietnamese government of religious and political persecution of the Montagnards, who have ...

Thai junta bans press event on Vietnam minority persecution

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II made her first trip to a former Nazi concentration camp today, visiting Bergen-Belsen just over 70 years after it was liberated by British forces, on the final day of her state visit to Germany.
	The 89-year-old queen was accompanied by her husband Prince Philip, 94, as she visited the site where at least 52,000 people from across Europe died during World War II, including teenage Jewish diarist Anne Frank.
	She was due to see a memorial stone to the young girl, whose journal of her family's time hidden from the Nazis during the German occupation of The Netherlands has been read by millions around the world.
	In April 1945, British forces freed the camp in northern Germany where Jews, political prisoners and other persecuted groups were held, taking pictures which gave the world the first visual proof of the Holocaust.
	The queen is also due to lay a wreath and meet camp survivors and liberators.
	At a banquet at Berlin's presidential palace earlier in the 

Queen makes first visit to ex-Nazi concentration camp

Gunfire broke out on a beach in a tourist resort in Tunisia today, causing an unknown number of deaths, state television reported.
	The shooting happened in front of a hotel in El Kantaoui in central Tunisia, it said. Further details were not immediately available.

Deadly shooting on Tunisia tourist beach: TV

The Vatican today signed a historic first accord with Palestine, two years after officially recognising it as a state.
	The accord, a treaty covering the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, was the first since the Vatican recognised the Palestinian state in February 2013.
	The treaty, which took 15 years of negotiations to complete, was agreed in principle last month and bitterly condemned by Israel as a setback for the peace process.
	The Vatican's recognition of the state of Palestine followed a November 12 vote in favour of recognition by the UN General Assembly.
	Vatican officials have described it as reflecting the Church's desire to see the conflict in the Holy Land resolved by a "two-state" solution.
	The Palestinian Authority considers the Vatican one of 136 countries to have recognised Palestine as a state, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.
	The Vatican has had ...

Vatican signs historic accord with Palestine

Myanmar and Thailand today destroyed nearly USD 1 billion of seized narcotics to mark World Drugs Day, as the UN said East and Southeast Asia remained the world's biggest markets for synthetic drugs and heroin.
	Authorities in Myanmar said drugs worth around USD 245 million were crushed under a steamroller or torched in three locations including the commercial hub Yangon.
	The country, which is emerging from years of military rule, has long-struggled to control illegal drug production especially in its border areas where ethnic rebel groups are still active.
	The "Golden Triangle" region -- covering parts of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar -- was formerly one of the world's top producers of opium and heroin, until the emergence of Afghanistan as a drugs production hub.
	Myanmar's eastern Shan state accounts for nearly all of the illegal poppy cultivation in the country, which remains the world's second largest opium producer.
	Much of the raw material is believed to be smuggled across the .

Myanmar, Thailand destroy nearly USD 1 bn in seized drugs

Opium cultivation and production in Afghanistan have reached record levels, triggering "a large increase" in cheaper heroin supply in the US, the United Nations said on Friday.
	Afghan poppy fields covered some 224,000 hectares (553,500 acres) in 2014 -- a seven-per cent rise from the 209,000 hectares the previous year, according to a new study by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
	As the world's largest opium producer, Afghanistan's steady increase has had a direct impact on global opium cultivation, which with 310,891 hectares is now at its highest since the late 1930s, UNODC noted in its annual World Drugs report.
	Estimated global production of opiates meanwhile doubled in two years from 3,700 tons in 2012 to 7,554 tons in 2014.
	Afghanistan accounted for 85 percent of the global output.
	As a result, "we have been seeing signs in the US and the UK of a large increase of supply," UNODC research branch chief Angela Me told AFP.
	"In the US there's been an increase in ...

Afghan opium output sparks rise in cheaper heroin supply: UN

A Danish theme park has been accused of racism for its "Africa Land" section that includes attractions like "The Cannibal Pots" and "The Hottentot Carousel", but said today it would make no changes.
	Djurs Sommerland in central Denmark opened the area in 1993 and said that up until this week, when an anti-racism group launched a petition, it had received no criticism for its Africa-themed rides.
	The "Hottentot Carousel" - which uses a derogatory name for the Khoikhoi ethnic group - rotates around an outsized black man with thick lips, earrings and a bone through his hair, who is armed with a spear and a brightly coloured shield.
	"We strongly urge you to reconsider your themed area 'Africa Land' since it involves extremely dated and racist caricatures of African tribal people and stereotypes," the Everyday Racism Project DK wrote in a petition that today had been signed by over 1,200 people.
	"Your 'Cannibal Pot' ride adds to an oversimplified image of Africans as uncivilised and ...

Danish theme park in racism row over Africa-themed rides

A Palestinian opened fire on Israeli troops at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank today without causing any casualties before being shot and wounded, the army said.
	The exchange of fire happened at the Bekaot checkpoint in the Jordan Valley on the second Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which Israel has eased some restrictions on Palestinian movement from the West Bank to Jerusalem.
	"A Palestinian vehicle reached the Bekaot checkpoint, the terrorist in the car fired at soldiers," who "responded and identified a hit," an army statement said.
	The army said it did not know the extent of the gunman's injuries.
	There has been sporadic violence in the Palestinian territories during Ramadan.
	On Sunday, a Palestinian from the West Bank stabbed an Israeli policeman near Jerusalem's Old City before being shot. Both were seriously wounded. In response, Israel revoked entry permits to residents of the knife man's village.
	On Tuesday, a rocket from the Gaza Strip hit 

Palestinian fires on Israeli troops before being shot

A suspected Islamist attacked a gas factory in eastern France today, pinning a decapitated head to the gates and injuring at least two others with explosive devices before being arrested.
	"According to the initial findings of the enquiry, one or several individuals on board a vehicle drove into the factory. An explosion then took place," said one source close to the enquiry.
	"The decapitated body of a person was found nearby the factory but we do not yet know whether the body was transported to the place or not," added this source, adding a "flag with Arabic writing on it was found at the scene."
	French President Francois Hollande, in Brussels for a summit of EU leaders, rushed back to France to deal with the crisis. He described the assault as a "terrorist attack".
	"The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack," Hollande told reporters.
	The killing came nearly six months after the Islamist attacks in and around Paris that killed 17 people in ...

France: 1 decapitated, many hurt in suspected Islamist attack

Former champions Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal were all placed in the same section of the Wimbledon draw on Friday.
     Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic was kept apart from the other members of the 'Big Four'.
     However, the Serb may have to beat third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, the man who defeated him in the French Open final earlier this month, in the semi-finals.
     Djokovic begins his title defence against experienced German Philipp Kohlschreiber before a possible second-round clash with 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, who is playing in his last Wimbledon.
     If the seedings work out, the last 16 would see Djokovic face Kevin Anderson of South Africa, US Open champion Marin Cilic against Kei Nishikori, Wawrinka facing David Goffin and Grigor Dimitrov taking on Milos Raonic.
     In the bottom half, seven-time champion and second seed Federer could face Feliciano Lopez, Tomas Berdych would meet Gilles Simon, 2013 winner Murray could play Jo-Wilfried ...

Federer, Murray, Nadal in same Wimbledon half

An explosion ripped through a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital during the main weekly prayers today causing casualties, witnesses and a security official said.
	The blast hit Al-Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, the sources told AFP, without being able to provide an immediate toll.
	The Islamic State group has claimed similar bombings targeting Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in recent weeks.

Blast hits Kuwait Shiite mosque causing casualties

Russia's former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov, famed for turning around his US-bound plane over the Atlantic upon learning of NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999, has died aged 85, the Kremlin said today.
	A veteran of Soviet and Russian politics, Primakov served as premier under president Boris Yeltsin in 1998-1999, as foreign minister between 1996 and 1998 and headed the country's external intelligence agency SVR between 1991 and 1996.
	Considered one of the country's foremost experts on the Middle East, he was also a member of the Kremlin's security council until 1999.
	"Vladimir Putin expressed deep condolences to the family and relatives of Yevgeny Primakov over his death," the Kremlin said in a statement.
	"He was a statesman, scientist, politician, he has left behind a great legacy," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
	Known for aggressively standing up for Russia's interests, Primakov is most vividly remembered for ordering his US-bound plane to turn around over ...

Russian former PM Yevgeny Primakov dies aged 85: Kremlin

A Pakistani suspected of involvement in the Peshawar market bombing - one of the country's bloodiest attacks - has been arrested in Rome, Italian police said today.
	The man, who has been living in Italy, is accused of taking part in the attack in 2009 in which 134 died, including many women and children. He was held at Rome's Fiumicino airport after stepping off a flight from Pakistan.
	Anti-terrorist police believe he also hid a "suspected suicide attacker who was supposed to carry out an attack" in Italy.
	In April, Italy claimed to have dismantled an Islamist terror cell on the island of Sardinia led by two former bodyguards of Osama bin Laden who were plotting a possible attack on the Vatican.
	Arrest warrants were issued for 18 people, several of whom are also suspected of being part of Islamist networks in Pakistan.
	Nine were arrested across Italy, including three on Sardinia.
	The Vatican has played down the threat to the pope's life.

AFP

AFP

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