Rebels surrounded a government-held Druze village on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line on the Golan Heights today after heavy fighting, a monitoring group said.
	The advance came a day after Israel, with a significant Druze minority, said it was preparing for the possibility that people fleeing fighting might seek to cross to the Israeli-occupied side of the strategic plateau.
	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "closely following what is happening close to our borders," and that he had "given instructions to do what is necessary."
	He did not elaborate.
	After fierce clashes with loyalists, rebels, including Islamist fighters, surrounded the village of Hader, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
	"Hader is now totally surrounded by rebels, who just took a strategic hilltop north of the village," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
	The village lies along the ceasefire line, with the Israeli-occupied Golan to the west and the border ...

Rebels surround Druze village in Syria's Golan: monitor

PTI Automatic

Former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, acquitted by a UN court of war crimes during the 1990s Kosovo conflict, said he was detained today at Ljubljana airport on an Interpol warrant issued by Serbia.
	"I was in transit, the checking of my documents was lasting for a long time and when I asked what was going on ... I was told that there was an arrest warrant that was still valid," Haradinaj told AFP over the phone.
	"Now they want me to appear before a Slovenian court to clear this up. Why would I appear in court here? .... They are (the Slovenian authorities) the ones who messed up," he said.
	Haradinaj was named Kosovo prime minister in 2004 but resigned after only 100 days as he was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal. In 2012, The Hague-based court cleared him of charges of committing war crimes against Serb civilians during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.
	Meanwhile, Serbian state-run RTS television reported that the warrant for Haradinaj, a former commander of the Kosovo .

Slovenia detains former Kosovo PM on Serbian warant

Italian police announced today they had seized 185 kilograms of cocaine (400 pounds) at the port of Genes.
	Four people were arrested trying to bring the drugs out of the port in Italy's northwest, police said in a statement, adding that the stash had a street value of 75 million euros (USD 85 million).
	Three of those arrested were employees of a local company that provides port services, while the fourth was an Italian who had been wanted by the police for armed robbery, kidnapping and receiving stolen goods.
	The drugs were found in five big bags inside a shipping container that had been transporting oregano from Peru, police said.
	Officers also confiscated around 90,000 euros in cash and several mobile phones.

185kg of cocaine, valued at USD 85 million, seized in Italy

Nearly two weeks after their elaborate escape from a New York prison, more than 1,400 leads have failed to locate two dangerous murderers on the run, US agents admitted today.
	Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, escaped 12 days ago from a maximum security jail in New York state, in a carefully rehearsed, elaborate prison break that has been likened to a Hollywood movie.
	New York police released doctored photographs of the two escapees showing how they could look 12 days on with facial hair growth.
	They used hacksaw blades supplied by a 51-year-old married female prison worker, who reportedly had a relationship with both men, and equipment stolen from a toolbox left by construction workers.
	Joyce Mitchell, who worked in the tailor shop at the Clinton Correctional Facility in the village of Dannemora, is in custody charged with facilitating their escape.
	She told investigators that the two escapees also plotted to kill her husband, Lyle, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew ..

US manhunt for killers draws blank despite 1,400 leads

A California labor board has ruled that drivers for the ride-sharing service Uber are employees, not independent contractors -- a decision that could have major implications for the global startup.
	In the ruling earlier this month by the state's labor commission, Uber was ordered to reimburse one of its drivers, Barbara Ann Berwick, more than USD 4,000 for employee expenses.
	The ruling has been appealed in court and would only impact Uber drivers in California.
	But if the case ends up applying to Uber's global operations, it could potentially take away one of the underpinnings of its business model, which considers drivers independent contractors.
	The commission's order was included in the appeal filed by Uber in California Superior Court in San Francisco.
	State hearing officer Stephanie Barrett wrote that while Uber claims to be a "neutral technological platform" for independent drivers, it sets most of the terms of employment.
	Uber and its management team are "involved in ...

Uber drivers are employees, not contractors: US state

EU border agency Frontex today launched its first so-called "hotspot" in Sicily designed to bring together European and international actors to help Italy tackle the Mediterranean migrant crisis.
	"We have deployed our staff members only today to start working on the ground in Catania, Sicily," Frontex deputy executive director Gil Arias-Fernandez told AFP in Warsaw.
	Italy is struggling to cope with an influx of 60,000 migrants so far this year. Fleeing war or poverty, most arrive by sea from North Africa and many have died during the perilous journey in unsafe vessels run by people smuggling gangs.
	"We hope that the other agencies will gradually deploy their staff or their liaison officers in the coming days and weeks," Arias-Fernandez added, referring to the European Asylum Support Office, Eurojust, the UN Refugee Agency and the European Maritime Safety Agency.
	Proposed by the European Commission, Frontex "hotspots" aim to pool the resources of all the agencies focused on ...

EU border agency launches 'hotspot' to tackle migrant crisis

Two antique books dating back to the 17th century, stolen in Stockholm in the 1990s and sold to Americans by a German auction house were returned to Sweden today, US officials said.
	US authorities handed back the books, intercepted by the FBI from a bookstore in Manhattan and from Cornell University, to the National Library of Sweden at a ceremony in New York.
	Both books -- whose most recent owners did not know had been stolen -- were printed in the early 1600s in Europe during the Renaissance.
	The work by Italian architect Nicola Sabbatini, printed in 1638 is about stage craft and theater machinery, and "Oculus" by Bavarian physicist Christopher Scheiner is about the history of optics.
	It was printed in 1619.
	US prosecutors said they are two of at least 56 rare books stolen from the National Library of Sweden by employee Anders Burius between 1995 and 2004.
	Operating under a fake name, he sold them to German auction house, Ketterer Kunst, for cash.
	In 2004 he confessed and ...

US returns stolen 17th century books to Sweden

A harrowing video of doctors frantically trying to save pale, limp children after a chlorine gas attack in Syria shocked US lawmakers today, amid renewed calls for a no-fly zone to protect civilians.
	"The Syrian government is using chlorine gas with impunity," the former US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, told a House panel, warning that other nations like North Korea were watching the international response carefully.
	An international consensus against using chemical weapons "forged after World War I is steadily eroding," he warned.
	Assad has denied Western accusations of being behind a series of chlorine gas barrel bombings from helicopters over the northwestern province of Idlib since March with as many as 45 reported attacks in recent months.
	But doctor Mohamed Tennari vividly described the night of March 16, when, after hearing helicopters over his home town of Sarmin, a wave of explosive barrel bombs were dropped filling the air with "a bleach-like odor."
	"Dozens of ...

Syria chlorine gas attacks renew calls for no-fly zone

World oil prices fell back today despite news of a seventh weekly drop in US crude stockpiles, and ahead of a Federal Reserve interest rate decision.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in July fell 60 cents to USD 59.37 a barrel compared with yesterday's closing level.
	Brent North Sea crude for August delivery shed 66 cents to USD 63.04 a barrel in late afternoon deals in London.
	The US government's Department of Energy reported that American commercial crude inventories sank by 2.7 million barrels in the week ending June 12.
	That was the seventh weekly drop and was heavier than market expectations for a decline of 1.8 million, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg News.
	"Crude oil prices reversed earlier gains and retreated sharply in the afternoon session," said Sucden analyst Mytro Sokou.
	"The weekly (DoE) oil inventories report failed to provide any upside momentum as crude oil stocks at the key location of Cushing, Oklahoma, rose 112,000 (barrels) versus .

Oil drops despite falling US reserves

Guinea has charged members of the ousted military junta over the 2009 Conakry stadium massacre in which at least 157 protesters were killed, judicial and charity sources said today.
	Security forces opened fire and mowed down demonstrators after tens of thousands gathered at the capital's main stadium
 On September 28, 2009 to protest against the regime led by Moussa Dadis Camara.
	Women were raped, hundreds of people were wounded and dozens are still missing.
	"At least 13 people have been charged," a judicial source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that these were on top of eight people already charged since legal proceedings opened in 2010.
	The source said the latest accused -- including a policeman, the then housing minister and a civilian adviser to the junta -- had been summoned, questioned, charged and bailed over a period of recent months.
	A source in the Guinean Human Rights Organisation confirmed the special panel of investigating judges had unsealed new charges .

Guinea charges ex-junta figures over stadium massacre

FIFA has hired a top American lawyer Jenny Durkan, who was a candidate to become US attorney general, to help in its battle against a corruption storm, officials said today.
	Durkan was spoken of as a candidate last year to head the US legal department that has caused the biggest crisis to hit football's scandal-tainted world body.
	"Quinn Emanuel (QE) are representing FIFA and Jenny Durkan is part of the QE team," a FIFA spokeswoman told AFP.
	US authorities last month indicated 14 people, including nine top football officials and five sports business executives over tens of millions of dollars of bribes for media rights contracts.
	Swiss authorities are also investigating the award of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
	Loretta Lynch who was named US Attorney General in place of Eric Holder said that corruption was "rampant" at FIFA.
	The storm played a key role in the announcement of FIFA president Sepp Blatter this month that he would step ...

FIFA uses top US lawyer to battle corruption storm

The United Nations was scrambling today to get Yemen peace talks in Geneva moving with both the exiled government and the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels accusing each other of trying to sabotage the process.
	The third day of the high stakes talks, launched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with an appeal for a badly-needed two-week humanitarian truce, also stumbled over the makeup of the different delegations.
	"The only positive point so far is that the negotiations are continuing and that no delegation has slammed the door," said a Western diplomat close to the talks.
	The UN special envoy for Yemen, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has urged the warring sides to bend down, stressing the dire situation in Yemen. More than 2,600 people have been killed in the fighting since March and about 21 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid.
	But the positions of the two warring sides are so divergent that they are not sitting in the same room and the UN is holding ...

UN struggles to get Yemen peace talks off the ground

At least 31 people were killed today and dozens wounded in five simultaneous blasts at Shiite mosques and a house in the rebel-held Yemeni capital, medics and witnesses said.
	Two car bombs targeted mosques, while a third hit the house of the head of the Huthi rebels' politburo, Saleh al-Sammad, witnesses and security officials said.
	Among the mosques hit by car bombs was Al-Hashush, which was targeted in March in a series of suicide bombings against Shiite houses of worship claimed by the Islamic state group that killed 142 people.
	The other car bomb hit the Al-Quba Al-Khadra mosque in the central Hayel district, which is frequented by Huthi supporters.
	Explosive devices also went off at two other mosques -- Al-Kibssi and Al-Tayssir in Al-Ziraa district, with all the attacks timed to coincide with Muslim sunset prayers.
	Witnesses said the bombs were planted near the entrances to the mosques, and exploded as worshippers flocked in for the prayers, on the eve of the Muslim fasting .

31 die in blasts at Shiite sites in Yemen capital

US First Lady Michelle Obama arrived today with her mother and daughters in Milan, where she is set to push her healthy food agenda at the World Expo.
	The first lady kicked off the Italian leg of her trip to Europe, which began in London on Monday, with a cooking demonstration at the James Beard American Restaurant alongside a group of schoolchildren.
	Tomorrow she will visit the world exhibition underway in the northern Italian city, which has a theme close to her heart: food.
	Obama has long worked on "Let's Move!", her programme to get American children to eat more healthily and be more active.
	"We'll be sharing some of our successes," Obama told Italian newspaper La Stampa.
	"But more importantly, we'll be taking the time to learn from leaders here in Italy and all around the world to find out what's working for them."
	Obama told the paper that while the US is still grappling with a serious obesity problem -- one in three American children is overweight or obese -- and while ...

Michelle Obama pushes healthy food agenda in Milan

The European Central Bank on Wednesday raised the maximum emergency funding that Greek banks can obtain by 1.1 billion euros (USD 1.24 billion), a banking source said.
	The increase -- which brought the overall ceiling on Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to 84.1 billion euros -- came after a stark Bank of Greece warning that the country could crash out of the eurozone unless it can conclude loan talks with its EU-IMF creditors by the end of the month.
	The banking source told AFP the increase was "sufficient" to meet bank needs but did not divulge the total level of funding available to them this week.
	With Greece gripped by uncertainty after five months of talks, the nation's banks have slowly been deprived of funds.
	The central bank said Greek business and private bank deposits had fallen by nearly 30 billion euros between December and April, to 128 billion euros.
	The ECB last week increased its assistance by 2.3 billion euros.
	But it has also brought pressure to bear on ...

ECB ups Greek bank's emergency funding by 2.3 bn euros

Qatar paid the African Football Confederation USD 1.8 million (1.6 million euros) to present its bid for the 2022 World Cup at a congress, the continent's top football official told a French magazine.
	CAF president and FIFA vice president Issa Hayatou said he saw nothing wrong with the payment made before the confederation held a congress in the Angolan capital Luanda in January 2010.
	Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup later the same year at a controversial FIFA vote now under investigation by Swiss authorities.
	Paris-based Jeune Afrique magazine asked Hayatou about the donation from Qatar.
	"It was USD 1.8 million, not one million. Paid in two times 900,000 dollars," the controversial AFC chief replied.
	"The Qataris gave it to us to be able to show their plan (for the 2022 World Cup) during the congress."
	Hayatou insisted he had not expected other candidates, including the United States and Australia, to pay for a similar privilege.
	"Not necessarily. We didn't ask ..

Qatar paid USD 1.8 mln to make WC bid to African congress

EU member states agreed today to extend damaging economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis by another six months to the end of January 2016, officials said.
	The agreement by ambassadors from the 28 European Union nations meeting in Brussels will be formalised by foreign ministers from the bloc when they meet next week, the officials said.
	"EU foreign ministers will finalise the decision in Luxembourg on Monday," Poland's permanent representative to the EU said on Twitter, while several sources also confirmed the agreement.
	The following day, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia are slated to hold talks in Paris, it was announced today. It is hoped those meetings may create renewed diplomatic momentum towards resolving the violence in east Ukraine, and address tensions between Russian and Western nations over the conflict and sanctions that have arisen from it.
	The EU imposed its sanctions targeting Russia's banks, oil and defence sectors ...

EU to extend Russia sanctions to January 2016

Canada today submitted a request at the World Trade Organization for retaliatory trade measures against the United States for non-compliance after winning a meat labelling dispute.
	At a special WTO meeting held to iron out trade disputes, Canada evaluated the suspension of its tariffs and related obligations on US goods at three billion Canadian dollars (USD 2.5 billion) annually.
	This was "in response to the US's continued non-compliance with its WTO obligations" in the COOL (Country of origin labelling requirement) dispute," a source close to the dispute said.
	"At the meeting today, Canada said it was deeply disappointed that the US continues to maintain a measure that is inconsistent with its WTO obligations," the source said.
	The WTO had upheld a complaint by Canada and Mexico that US laws in place since 2009 requiring retailers to label meat with the country where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered discriminated against imported livestock.
	Canada, which said that ...

Canada requests sanctions against US over meat labelling spat

EU lawmakers today backed a ban on cloning farm animals and products derived from them, citing deep public unease at the prospect they could make it onto supermarket shelves.
	The European Parliament's environment and agriculture committees said proposals submitted by the European Commission had to be stronger to meet concerns over cloning and 'franken-foods' in the 28-nation bloc.
	"Due to the negative effects on animal welfare, cloning for farming purposes is rejected by a large majority of consumers," a parliament statement said.
	"Furthermore, we do not need cloning to ensure meat supplies in the EU. Prohibiting cloning is therefore a matter of European values and principles," it said.
	MEPs said the ban should also apply to cloned animals' "reproductive material (semen and embryos), their descendants and any products derived from them, including imports."
	"This is necessary because otherwise we would merely promote cloning in third countries," said MEP Renate Sommer, who is ...

EU lawmakers back animal cloning ban

Prosecutors in war-torn east Ukraine today charged two government soldiers with the murder of an elderly woman and her daughter in the separatist eastern province of Donetsk.
	The rare public case by pro-Kiev authorities against their own troops comes in the wake of international rights groups' condemnation of both sides' alleged use of torture and other intimidation tactics in the 14-month war.
	The Donetsk regional prosecutor's office said the two men had been charged with premeditated murder -- a crime that could put a person behind bars for anywhere between seven years and life.
	It said in a statement that the 77-year-old mother and her 45-year-old daughter had been slain by machinegun fire in their own home in the pro-Russian rebel controlled town of Luganske on Monday.
	"It has been establish that the servicemen entered the house of the victims, whom they suspected of separatist sympathies, and killed them with machinegun fire," said the statement.
	It said both suspects were ..

Ukraine accuse own soldiers of killing pro-rebel civilians

The OECD called today for financial sector reforms to combat inequality and lift economic growth in developed nations.
	The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a policy body comprising 34 advanced economies, cited data stretching back 50 years in a key report unveiled in the British capital.
	"Reforms to make the financial sector more stable can be expected to boost long-term economic growth and improve income equality," read the OECD study entitled "Finance and Inclusive Growth".
	The Paris-based OECD said the sector would make a "healthy contribution" to "strong and equitable growth" if it could "prevent credit overexpansion" and ensure "supervision of banks to maintain sufficient capital buffers".
	Credit has a more negative impact on economic growth when it is given to households rather than businesses, according to the analysis.
	The OECD also criticised excessive financial deregulation, the use of bank lending rather than bond financing, and the deterioration .

AFP

AFP

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