Turkey today briefly detained four journalists covering the seizure by Kurdish forces of the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad, reportedly because they asked the local governor a tricky question on Islamic State (IS) militants.
	Hasan Akbas of the daily Evrensel, Cumhuriyet reporter Pinar Ogunc, Ozlem Topcu of German weekly Die Zeit and Deniz Yucel of German daily Die Welt were all detained, the reporters announced on Twitter.
	They were held briefly and then released after an identity check, they said.
	The journalists were working at Turkey's Akcakale border crossing, which saw a huge influx of refugees in the last days due to the fighting between Kurds and IS.
	Turkish media reports, including in Cumhuriyet, said they had been detained at an outdoor briefing for asking the local Sanliurfa governor Izzettin Kucuk a question which he disliked.
	Akbas and Yucel asked Kucuk if he had a statement on reports that the inhabitants of Akcakale had safety concerns over the alleged presence of .

Turkey holds reporters 'for asking tough question' about IS

PTI Automatic

Saudi Arabia beheaded two of its citizens for murder today, adding to what a rights group calls a "campaign of death" in which more than 100 people have been executed.
	Mohammed al-Otaibi was convicted of shooting dead another Saudi, the interior ministry said in a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency.
	Authorities carried out the sentence in Riyadh.
	Separately, Turki al-Zahrani was put to death in the Muslim holy city of Mecca for stabbing dead a fellow Saudi, the ministry said.
	The two cases brought to 102 the number of Saudi nationals and foreigners executed in the kingdom this year.
	That compares with 87 for all of 2014, according to AFP tallies, but is still far below the record 192 which rights group Amnesty International said took place in 1995.
	"Saudi authorities have been on a campaign of death this year, executing more people in six months than all of the previous year," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said in a ...

Saudi beheads murderers, adding to 'campaign of death'

France's ecology minister, Segolene Royal, has rankled the company that makes Nutella by urging the public to stop eating its irresistible chocolate hazelnut spread, saying it contributes to deforestation.
	"We have to replant a lot of trees because there is massive deforestation that also leads to global warming. We should stop eating Nutella, for example, because it's made with palm oil," Royal said in an interview late Monday on the French television network Canal+.
	"Oil palms have replaced trees, and therefore caused considerable damage to the environment," she explained.
	Nutella, she said, should be made from "other ingredients".
	The comments needled Ferrero, the giant Italian chocolate group that makes Nutella.
	Without referring to Royal directly, the company issued a statement Tuesday saying it was aware of the environmental stakes and had made commitments to source palm oil in a responsible manner.
	Ferrero gets nearly 80 percent of its palm oil from Malaysia. The rest of .

'Stop eating Nutella' urges French ecology minister

- America's reputation in East Asia risks being undermined if it fails to seal a trade pact encompassing 40 percent of the world's economy, Singapore's foreign minister warned today.
	"American credibility will be seriously impacted if this doesn't go through," Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said of the trade accord, which is in jeopardy in Washington.
	He highlighted how US officials have been stressing the importance of reaching such a deal for many years.
	"You are either in, or you're out," he told a seminar organized by The Atlantic magazine.
	The Republican-run House of Representatives on Friday delivered a stinging blow to President Barack Obama by refusing to give him fast-track powers to present Congress with a trade accord for an up or down vote, with no amendments.
	The Republicans were joined by many of Obama's Democrats over concerns the accord could result in US jobs being lost.
	Obama wants to finalize terms with 11 other Pacific Rim countries on what would be the ...

US credibility at stake over Asia trade pact: Singapore

Kuwait will be installing surveillance cameras in public places such as malls, supermarkets and hotels to boost security because of concerns about crime and terrorism, following parliament's unanimous adoption of a bill today.
	Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled al-Sabah said the legislation was needed to boost security and prevent crimes, assuring lawmakers that individual privacy will not be compromised.
	During debate of the bill, MP Abdullah al-Turaiji said "we do not rule out the possibility that those who carried out the suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia may have people in Kuwait," to two suicide attacks last month in the neighbouring country.
	The law establishes a jail term of up to two years and a fine of USD 33,000 for persons who misuse the cameras.
	Parliament also adopted on a final vote legislation stipulating 10-year jail terms and fines of up to USD 165,000 for online crimes, especially those related to terrorism, despite warnings that this could undermine ...

Kuwait to install cameras against crime, terrorism

Property tycoon Donald Trump, one of America's most flamboyant and outspoken billionaires, declared today he was running for the White House, promising to make America great again.
	"I am officially running for president of the United States and we are going to make our country great again," he said in a speech delivered from Trump Tower on New York's Fifth Avenue.
	The 69-year-old is considered a wildcard candidate in an increasingly crowded pool of contenders seeking the presidency in 2016.
	Denouncing US foreign and economic policy, Trump ridiculed America's current crop of politicians and vowed to reverse what he called US decline.
	"Our country is in serious trouble. We don't have victories anymore," he said. "When was the last time anyone saw us beating, let's say, China in a trade deal. They kill us. I beat China all the time."
	"When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions and what do we do?"
	The businessman, whom Forbes values at $4.1 ...

Donald Trump announces run for the White House

President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia will boost its nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental missiles this year, in a move likely to further unnerve the West.
	The declaration from the Kremlin strongman came as Russia reacted with fury to reports that the US is planning to bulk up its military deployments in eastern Europe, with tensions between Russia and the West are at their highest since the end of the Cold War over the conflict in Ukraine.
	"This year the size of our nuclear forces will increase by over 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles that will be able to overcome any, even the most technologically advanced, missile defence systems," Putin said at the opening of an exhibition of military hardware outside Moscow.
	Russia has an estimated 7,500 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, of which around 1,780 are deployed on missiles or at military bases.
	The United States, in comparison, has some 7,300 ...

Putin says Russia to boost nuclear arsenal

An Austrian court today convicted nine people of Chechen origin arrested last year on their way to join Islamic State militants together with their Turkish driver.
	The nine, aged 18 to 28, were found guilty of belonging to a "terrorist" organisation and given jail terms of between 19 months and three years, except for one who got a suspended sentence.
	Their 34-year-old Turkish driver was given three years, with the court in Vienna ruling that he had already helped Islamists get to Syria to join the ranks of IS.
	Police arrested the eight men and one woman last August in two cars on the border with Italy after investigators caught wind of two Turks in Vienna arranging transport for would-be jihadists to Syria at a Vienna mosque.
	Four of the defendants denied wanting to go to Syria. The others admitted it but said that they merely wanted to live under Islamic law and help the local population.
	Presiding judge Andreas Hautz said however that even if they did not intend to fight, the .

Austria convicts 9 would-be Islamic State members

Following disclosures of devastating breaches of US government computer networks, officials told lawmakers today even more intrusions may be discovered with investigations and deployment of new security tools.
	At a congressional hearing where lawmakers voiced outrage over the hacking incidents, the head of the Office of Personnel Management warned that more bad news may be coming.
	OPM chief Katherine Archuleta did not mention China -- which has been widely blamed for the incidents -- but told the hearing that "these adversaries are sophisticated, well funded and focused. These attacks will not stop. If anything, they will increase."
	Archuleta said that without recently implemented security measures "we would have never known that malicious activity had previously existed on the network, and would not have been able to share that information."
	Andy Ozment, an assistant security at the Department of Homeland Security, also warned of more incidents.
	"As our detection methods ...

More data hacks could emerge from probe: US officials

British actor John Hurt said he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but would keep working and was "more than optimistic" about his future.
	"I have recently been diagnosed with early stage pancreatic cancer," the 75-year-old Hurt, who appeared in the cult film "Alien" and the Harry Potter series, said in a statement to Britain's Press Association.
	"I am undergoing treatment and am more than optimistic about a satisfactory outcome, as indeed is the medical team," said Hurt, who has been nominated twice for Oscars for "The Elephant Man" and "Midnight Express".
	"I am continuing to focus on my professional commitments and will shortly be recording 'Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell' (one of life's small ironies!) for BBC Radio 4," he added.
	Hurt started his stage and film career in the 1960s and has received a Golden Globe and four Baftas, including a lifetime achievement award.
	He was knighted last year for services to drama.
	In recent months, Hurt has been filming "The History of ...

British actor Hurt diagnosed with cancer

A US Navy engineer has pleaded guilty to attempted espionage for Egypt after offering details on the layout of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Gerald Ford while under construction.
	Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 36, a civilian who worked at the Norfolk, Virginia shipyard where the highly sophisticated sub is being built, offered the information to an undercover FBI agent posing as Egyptian intelligence in September.
	Awwad, who entered his plea before US District Judge Raymond Jackson, had offered a USB drive with some of the details on the cutting-edge supercarrier's layout.
	He also offered to supply the rest of the information on the ship, which can carry some 4,000 sailors, to Cairo.
	"The National Security Division will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who abuse their access to sensitive defense information," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement.
	Assistant FBI Director Randall Coleman stressed that "we prevented the loss of billions of dollars in ...

US naval engineer pleads guilty to spying bid

Some 23,000 people have fled from Syria to Turkey between June 3 and 15, the UN refugee agency said today.
	"New fighting in northern Syria has seen 23,135 refugees fleeing across the border into Turkey's Sanliurfa province," during that period, spokesman William Spindler said, citing figures given by Turkish authorities on Tuesday.
	"Some 70 percent are women and children," he said.
	"Most of the new arrivals are Syrians escaping fighting by rival military forces in and around the key border town of Tal Abyad, which was controlled by militants and faces Akcakale across the border," he said.
	"But they also include so far 2,183 Iraqis from the cities of Mosul, Ramadi and Fallujah," he added.
	"UNHCR staff say most refugees are exhausted and tired and arrive carrying just a few belongings. Some have walked for days," Spindler said.
	He said UNHCR had provided 27,000 items of children's clothing, 33,000 blankets and 8,000 mattresses after being asked for assistance by Turkey's emergency 

UN says 23,000 refugees fled to Turkey from Syria this month

At least 17 people were killed and 70 injured when a rush hour passenger train hit a lorry and derailed at an unmarked crossing south of Tunis today, officials said.
	Most of the dead were passengers on the train, which hit the lorry around 60 kilometres south of the capital, the transport ministry said.
	"The toll is currently 17 dead and around 70 injured," Mongi Khadhi, a spokesman for the emergency services told AFP.
	An initial report had put the number killed at 14.
	The interior ministry said the train was en route to Tunis from Gaafour, 120 kilometres to the southwest.
	The collision happened near El Fahes at around 6:30 am (0530 GMT).
	Transport Minister Mahmoud Ben Romdhane, who initially blamed both the train and lorry driver for going too fast, said the accident happened because there was no barrier at the crossing.
	"The main cause of the accident is the non-existence of a barrier... And protection at the crossing," he told radio Shems-FM.
	"In Tunisia, there are 1,150 ...

17 dead, 70 injured in Tunisia train crash

A US civil rights activist who resigned from her post at the country's leading African American advocacy group amid allegations that she has masqueraded as a black woman for years said today she identifies as an African American.
	A firestorm erupted last week around Rachel Dolezal -- who was president of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) -- after her parents, who are white, said she is too.
	"I identify as black," an unapologetic Dolezal told NBC's "Today" show, in her first interview since her story made national headlines.
	She said that by age five, she was already "drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of peach. Black curly hair."
	"It's a little more complex than me identifying as black or answering a question of 'are you black or white?'" she told NBC.
	Dolezal, 37, built a career as an activist in the black community of Spokane.
	She rose to become the president of the city's branch of the ..

Controversial US activist: 'I identify as black'

North Korea has been hit by its worst drought in a century, state media said today, sparking fears of worsening food shortages in the impoverished communist country.
	The North's main rice-growing provinces -- South Hwanghae, North Hwanghae, South Pyongan and South Hamgyong -- have been badly damaged by a severe drought, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
	"The worst drought in 100 years continues in the DPRK (North Korea), causing great damage," it said.
	The agency said more than 30 per cent of paddy fields across the country were "parching up", with almost no rainfall recorded in South and North Hwanghae provinces.
	"Water level of reservoirs stands at the lowest, while rivers and streams getting dry," it said.
	Last week the South's unification ministry said the North's crop production could fall by as much as 20 per cent from last year if the shortage of rainfall lasts until early July.
	North Korea has suffered regular chronic food shortages -- ...

N Korea hit by worst drought in a century: state media

A rare ancient Egyptian burial cloth more than 3,000 years old is to go under the hammer on Thursday in Paris, an exceptional sale of an artefact usually found only in museum collections.
	The small square of vividly painted fabric is among roughly 20 known to exist in the world, the majority of which are on display at museums like the Louvre and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
	According to Piasa, the auction house hosting the sale, it is difficult to set a price estimate, given the unique nature of the item.
	The 29-by-21 centimetre shroud, which would have been placed on the deceased's sarcophagus, bears the likeness of a man named "Ta-nedjem" or "Gentle Land", who died some 3,400 years ago and who is unknown to researchers.
	Its path to the auction block is remarkable, passing through the hands of an American billionaire, his unhappy wife and finally his mistress.
	The final step toward auction came when Piasa's director Henri-Pierre Teissedre found the cloth while doing .

Egyptian shroud in first-of-kind auction in Paris

The Taliban today warned the leader of the Islamic State group against waging a parallel insurgency in Afghanistan, after a string of defections and reported clashes with militants loyal to IS.
	The Middle Eastern group, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, has never formally acknowledged having a presence in Afghanistan but fears are growing that the group is making inroads in the country.
	In a letter addressed to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Taliban insisted that "jihad (holy war) against the Americans and their allies must be conducted under one flag and one leadership".
	"The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) does not consider the multiplicity of jihadi ranks beneficial either for jihad or for Muslims," said the letter signed by the Taliban deputy leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor.
	"Your decisions taken from a distance will result in (the IS) losing support of religious scholars, mujahideen... And in order to defend its achievements the Islamic Emirate will be forced to ...

Taliban warn IS leader not to interfere in Afghanistan

Israel's foreign ministry has lashed out at foreign journalists' coverage of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, in a video ridiculing their reporting, particularly during last year's bloody war.
	The 49-second cartoon clip, entitled "Open your eyes about Gaza", was posted on YouTube on Sunday, and quickly drew condemnation from the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel.
	The video features a blonde-haired television correspondent in Gaza with an American accent declaring to camera "there are no terrorists here, just ordinary people", while a masked militant fires off a rocket, presumably towards Israel.
	Another scene has the reporter describing tunnels that Hamas fighters used to stage attacks into Israeli territory as "the first Palestinian subway."
	A female character then gives the reporter a pair of glasses, allowing him to see the reality of "life under Hamas rule".
	The reporter then faints.
	"Terror rules Gaza," a caption reads.
	The FPA said it was "surprised and alarmed" by the 

Israel ministry video lashes out at foreign journalists

Ukraine today reported the death of two soldiers in advance of European-mediated talks with pro- Russian insurgents aimed at breaking a deadlock over the future status of eastern separatist enclaves.
	Kiev's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said government forces came under particularly heavy fire from 122-millimetre howitzers in the rebel-controlled Lugansk province.
	Lugansk's Kiev-appointed governor Gennadiy Moskal wrote on his website that two servicemen were also injured in attacks on villages near the border with Russia.
	Separatist commander Eduard Basurin said three of his fighters and five civilians were also hurt in the neighbouring rebel-run region of Donetsk.
	The two predominantly Russian-speaking provinces -- once the heart of Ukraine's now-shattered coal and steel industry -- have been waging a war for independence from Kiev's new pro-Western leadership since March 2014.
	The campaign has claimed the lives of nearly 6,500 and driven more than a million people from ...

Deadly clashes precede new Ukraine peace talks

Kurdish fighters seized control Tuesday of a key border town from the Islamic State group, cutting a major supply line in the biggest setback yet for the jihadists in Syria.
	From across the frontier in Turkey, the Kurds and allied Syrian rebels could be seen raising their banners in place of the black IS flag and taking up positions at the Tal Abyad border post.
	Fighters with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia waved their yellow banner as Turkish troops looked on from the other side of the frontier.
	The capture of Tal Abyad, used by IS as a gateway from Turkey to its de facto capital Raqa city, was "the biggest setback to IS since it announced its caliphate one year ago," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
	The frontier town was a key conduit for foreign fighters and supplies into IS-held territory in Syria and for exports of black market oil from jihadist-held fields in eastern Syria, analysts say.
	Tal ...

IS suffers 'biggest setback' as Kurds take Syria border town

At least three Somali government soldiers were killed and three others wounded today in a roadside bomb explosion outside the capital Mogadishu, security officials and witnesses said.
	Officials blamed the attack on "terrorist elements", a reference to the Horn of Africa nation's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels.
	"One of the vehicles of the security forces was targeted near Hawa Abdi area in the Afgoye corridor. We believe the terrorists planted an explosive device by the roadside and remotely detonated it when the vehicle was passing by," said Hassan Abdulahi, a Somali security official.
	The official could not immediately confirm the toll from the attack, although eyewitness Ibrahim Ismail said three soldiers were killed and three others were seriously wounded.
	"The soldiers opened fire after the explosion to disperse approaching crowds. I saw three dead soldiers and three others wounded seriously," he said.
	Another eyewitness, Ahmed Gobe, also said there were several ...

AFP

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