A total of 38 people died in ethnic violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend, many massacred when a church was set ablaze, the government said today.
	The killings took place overnight Friday in Mutarule, about 50 kilometres south of Bukavu, the capital of Sud-Kivu province.
	Earlier, local sources said the toll was at least 30 men, women and children, and that most of the victims were ethnic Bafuliru.
	The violence was sparked by the theft of livestock which resulted in retaliation "that led to carnage, causing the deaths of 38 people," said an official statement issued after an extraordinary meeting of government ministers.
	"Fifteen of the victims of this massacre by an armed group were burnt alive in a fire... Lit deliberately by unidentified assailants in a church. The government strongly condemns this crime and does not intend to let it go unpunished," the statement continued.
	Local sources said Saturday that 14 women, 10 children and a soldier were among 

38 killed in DR Congo ethnic violence: government

PTI Automatic

Iran and the United States go into a second day of talks today on Tehran's contested nuclear programme, with Washington warning of "tough choices" ahead of a July deadline for a deal.
	The closed-door two-day meeting in Geneva, which began yesterday, marks a new effort to find common ground between Tehran and Washington, amid concerns that tensions between the two could damage efforts to strike a deal between the Islamic republic and world powers.
	As the first day of talks drew to a close, Washington acknowledged that time was running out.
	We think we've made progress during some rounds, but as we said coming out of the last one, we hadn't seen enough made. We hadn't seen enough realism, quite frankly, on the table," said deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
	"We know we don't have a lot of time left. That's why we've said diplomacy will intensify," Harf said.
	"People need to make tough choices, but we are very focused on that July 20th time."
	Iran's deputy foreign ...

US warns of 'tough choices' in Iran nuclear talks

German officials will visit Tehran Sunday for talks on Iran's nuclear drive, top Iranian negotiator and deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said today.
	The meeting will follow similar discussions with American, Russian and French negotiators this week ahead of the resumption of political talks between Iran and the main P5+1 group of world powers yesterday in Vienna.
	"Mr Hans Dieter Lucas, the German representative at the P5+1 talks, will travel to Tehran to attend a seminar" organised by Iran's Foreign Ministry, Araqchi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
	"We will have bilateral nuclear talks with him" on the sidelines, said Araqchi who is in Geneva leading Tehran's negotiators in meetings with US counterparts.
	The flurry of bilateral talks seek to bridge differences that have so far hindered progress in negotiations over Iran's atomic programme, which Western powers suspect masks military objectives.
	Tehran has long insisted that its nuclear activities are ..

Iran, Germany to hold nuclear talks in Tehran Sunday

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray shocked the tennis world when he hired Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach at the weekend.
     Murray is the only player in the men's top 10 to have a female coach and his decision to appoint Mauresmo, a former world number one and Wimbledon winner, will be closely scrutinised over the coming weeks as the Scot prepares to defend his Wimbledon title.
     The surprise move has provoked differing opinions in the tennis community and here AFP takes a look at the reaction from some of the sport's leading personalities:
     17-time Grand Slam singles champion Roger Federer - "I think it is very interesting. I always enjoyed watching her play and she is a true professional.
     "So from that standpoint, I think it's a great choice and I hope they're going to be a successful team together."
     12-time Grand Slam singles champion Billie Jean King - "It is not the gender of the coach that is important, it is the strength of the relationship between .

Tennis world reacts to Mauresmo becoming Murray's coach

Ian Bell said he wanted to "lead from the front" after being named England's Cricketer of the Year on Monday.
     The 32-year-old Warwickshire batsman won the award, voted for by the English cricket media, on the back of making three centuries and two fifties during England's 3-0 home Ashes series win against Australia last year.
     But that series was quickly overshadowed by England's 5-0 thrashing in Australia in 2013/14.
     "I don't think we reacted well to the problems we had and there has been plenty of fall out since," said Bell in what appeared to be a reference to the post-Australia tour ditching of star batsman Kevin Pietersen and Andy Flower's replacement as coach by Peter Moores.
     "When you step back from it all and have a look, I think we got blindsided by Australia.
     "It is horrible to come away from that with a 5-0 scoreline, but it will be a good experience in the long run for the younger players who were on that trip.
     "Back in 2006/07, myself, Cooky ..

Bell vows to lead from the front

World football chief Sepp Blatter blasted critics trying to "destroy" FIFA as he launched a staunch defence of his scandal-tainted organisation.
     Blatter, 78, who is poised to announce his candidacy for a fifth term as president of football's global governing body, launched a strong defence of his term during addresses to Asian and African officials.
     Speaking to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) gathered in Sao Paulo ahead of FIFA's 64th Congress, Blatter branded his critics "destroyers".
     "Show unity and confirm this unity, it's the best way to reply to all the destructors in the world," Blatter said.
     "They want to destroy, not the game, but they want to destroy the institution, because our institution is too strong," he added.
     Blatter said FIFA was "so strong we are sure they'll not destroy it."
     Blatter's rallying cry comes as FIFA faces mounting pressure over its 2010 decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
     Five of FIFA's six biggest ...

Blatter takes aim at FIFA 'destroyers'

Jimmy Neesham became the first New Zealander to score hundreds in his first two Test matches to put the visitors in a commanding position after two days of the first Test against the West Indies at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Monday.
     Neesham's innings of 107 and a 201-run sixth-wicket partnership with B.J. Watling (89) lifted the Black Caps to a total of 508 for seven declared.
     Left to negotiate a tricky nine overs before the close of play, West Indies reached 19 without loss with Chris Gayle, in his 100th Test match on his home ground, to resume on the third morning with Kieran Powell.
     Powell has already enjoyed a moment of good fortune, being put down by Peter Fulton at second slip in the third over of the innings off Tim Southee.
     Despite an encouraging effort in the morning session when three wickets fell for 20 runs to have New Zealand at 279 for five from their overnight position of 240 for two, the West Indies bowlers again laboured on a benign pitch throughout 

Neesham hits ton as New Zealand dominate

The 2014 World Cup's imminent start brings with it the looming prospect of penalty shootouts, but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes that there is no point in preparing for them.
     The Portuguese has tasted defeat in several penalty shootouts -- notably losing Champions League semi-finals with Chelsea in 2007 and Real Madrid in 2012 -- and says that they are ultimately a lottery.
     "Don't speak about penalties with me because I always lose on penalties!" said the Portuguese, who is working as an analyst for Yahoo! during the World Cup.
     "The only time I won was the (Italian) Super Cup with Inter Milan, when we beat Roma on penalties. Imagine how lucky I was -- (Francesco) Totti missed a penalty!
     "But I lost so many times. I did everything: I trained, I didn't train. I analysed opponents' penalties going back years, the percentage of where they take the penalty, the percentage of where the goalkeeper goes or doesn't go.
     "Also, I didn't look at this and did it by 

Mourinho rues lottery of penalties

The United Nations estimates it will cost USD 210 million to cover immediate priority needs for the next six months in Bosnia, alone, after devastating floods hit the region, an official has said.
	UN Development Programme official Cihan Sultanoglu yesterday said immediate needs include shelter, food, water, health and agriculture supplies, medicine, debris removal and mine clearance.
	She said 800 square kilometres (308 square miles) of flood-affected areas are suspected to contain mines and unexploded ordinance, making the clean-up operation costly, difficult and lengthy.
	More than 75,000 homes are estimated to have been damaged and up to 2,000 destroyed, and 60,000 children affected, she said.
	"In light of the onset of colder winter conditions only four, five months away, there is indeed an immediate need to begin the work required to ensure that people have safe and liveable homes and adequate shelter," she said.
	Sultanoglu singled out a need to prioritise the repair of ...

USD 210 million needed now for Bosnia floods: UN

Shares in magazine publishing giant Time Inc has lost ground in the first trading day after its spinoff from US media conglomerate Time Warner.
	Trading under the symbol "TIME" the publishing group dropped 0.77 per cent to close at USD 23.30 yesterday.
	The split formalised Friday separated the publisher of the famed Time newsweekly from media giant Time Warner, ending a marriage that merged the two firms in 1990.
	The new firm is the latest publishing spinoff from a big conglomerate. It comes on the heels of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp splitting its entertainment and publishing segments, and a similar action planned by Tribune Co.
	Morgan Stanley analyst Toni Kaplan said in a note to clients that the new company is likely to see hard times in the short term.
	"The magazine industry is in secular decline, and Time's revenue has been falling," Kaplan said in a research note.
	But the analyst added that the spinoff could allow Time to invest and find new growth ...

Time spins lower in first trades as separate company

Direct talks between France and Iran on the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear drive will be held this week, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said.
	"Bilateral discussions between France and Iran will take place on Wednesday," Fabius said yesterday at a news conference in Algiers after Iranian and US delegations began two days of direct negotiations in Geneva.
	"After these discussions, there will also be discussions between the Iranians and the Russians. There may be others. Anyway, the three (countries) that I know about are the Americans, the Russians and the French," he added.
	"The Americans gave us notice about these talks and we also said we would have talks with the Iranians.
	"It was agreed that after these talks we would consult with the six before seeing the Iranians again from June 16," Fabius said, referring to the P5+1 of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.
	Senior Iranian and US officials held what Tehran's top negotiator ..

France, Iran to hold direct nuclear talks: Fabius

The Sudanese army said it killed 110 rebels as it repelled an assault in South Kordofan state today, although the insurgents denied the death toll.
	Four soldiers were also killed, said a statement from the military which rarely gives assessments of victims in its conflict with the rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan.
	The SPLM-N confirmed the attack but denied that 110 of its fighters were killed, reporting just three dead and 15 wounded among its ranks.
	The rebels targeted Al-Atmur region, where troops on Friday overran a base that the insurgents had used to launch mortar attacks on Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan.
	"The armed forces repelled an attack by rebels who wanted to enter the region of Al-Atmur liberated by the army," military spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said in a statement carried by the official SUNA news agency.
	"After three hours of fighting the soldiers managed to suppress them, killing 110 and wounding a large .

Sudan army says 110 rebels killed in South Kordofan

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman today lashed out at fellow ministers for espousing contradictory solutions to the conflict with the Palestinians, maintaining Israel needed one binding diplomatic plan.
	"Four senior ministers, appearing one after the other and each taking a totally different diplomatic direction, created a grotesque spectacle," he said, referring to a series of presentations by senior ministers at the Herzliya security conference yesterday.
	During back-to-back presentations, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel should seek to resume peace talks with the Palestinians despite the establishment of a Hamas-backed unity government; Interior Minister Gideon Saar spoke in favour of maintaining the status quo; Economy Minister Naftali Bennett called for the annexation of parts of the West Bank.
	Army radio quoted Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon as calling on "the Arab peoples and leaders of the Palestinian Authority not to reject the extended hand of peace and ...

Israel's Lieberman slams ministers over policy cacophony

The United States is hopeful that after months of attacks and tensions "significant progress" could be made this week to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine, a US official said.
	Washington had been "encouraged" by the talks, between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the incoming Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko, in Normandy last week, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
	She also welcomed the participation of the Russian ambassador to Kiev at Poroshenko's inauguration.
	Putin on Saturday ordered the Russian border guards to reinforce the state frontier with Ukraine and take all necessary measures to prevent illegal crossings of armed convoys, a move which was also welcomed by the US administration.
	"I think now we're calling on Russia to follow up its words with actions," Harf told reporters.
	"There's a path forward here, we've always said there was, for de-escalation."
	She added that President Putin had "called on the separatists" to stop the attacks in ...

US hopes Ukraine tensions will ease this week

Senior Iranian and US officials held what Tehran's top negotiator dubbed "constructive" talks today, as Washington warned tough choices were needed for a lasting accord on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme by a July 20 deadline.
	The closed-door meeting in Geneva, due to last two days, marks a new effort to find common ground between Tehran and Washington, amid concerns that tensions between the two could damage efforts to strike deal between the Islamic republic and world powers.
	As the first day of talks drew to a close, Washington said time was running out.
	"We think we've made progress during some rounds, but as we said coming out of the last one, we hadn't seen enough made. We hadn't seen enough realism, quite frankly, on the table," said deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
	"We know we don't have a lot of time left. That's why we've said diplomacy will intensify," Harf said.
	"People need to make tough choices, but we are very focused on that July 20th ...

Tehran says Geneva nuclear talks with US 'constructive'

Jordan today summoned Australia's charge d'affaires John Feakes after Canberra said it would no longer refer to annexed east Jerusalem as "occupied", the foreign ministry in Amman said.
	"The ministry summoned the Australian charge d'affaires and informed him that the kingdom is concerned about the Australian government's decision to stop referring to east Jerusalem as 'occupied'," ministry spokeswoman Sabah Rafei said in a statement.
	"The Australian government's decision violates international law and resolutions that consider east Jerusalem as an integral part of all Palestinian territories occupied in 1967."
	Last week, Australian attorney general George Brandis sparked Palestinian fury by saying Canberra would not use such "judgemental language" to describe an area which was the subject of negotiations.
	Israel, which has a 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, hailed the remarks as "refreshing", but the Palestinian leadership denounced them as "disgraceful and shocking", with the ...

Jordan summons Australia diplomat over Jerusalem

A Saudi special court jailed 33 people for up to 30 years after finding them guilty of "forming a terror cell" among other charges, state news agency SPA reported today.
	The 33 are part of a group of 71 people who have been on trial since yesterday for various charges including accusing the kingdom's rulers of "infidelity", said SPA
	They were also convicted of "smuggling a number of prisoners" out of jail as well as "targeting clerics, princes, and members of the security forces," the agency said.
	Their prison terms range from six months to 30 years.
	The cell members were arrested when security forces raided their hideout in Riyadh in 2007 in an operation that left one member of the security forces and six of the group dead.
	Three of the 71 defendants have been acquitted, and some alleged members of the cell have been released on bail pending their trial, media reported.
	It is unclear if the court will continue the trial of the remaining 35 defendants.
	The trial is the latest ..

Saudi court jails 33 over 'terror' cell

NATO today launched one of its largest military manoeuvres in the Baltic states since tensions spiked with neighbouring Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
	Around 4,700 troops and 800 military vehicles from 10 countries including Britain, Canada and the United States are participating in the Sabre Strike exercises near the Latvian capital Riga.
	Russia has voiced its objections to the manoeuvres, which move to neighbouring Lithuania tomorrow.
	The exercises come as Moscow's March annexation of Crimea and sabre rattling in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad have sparked fear in the neighbouring Baltics.
	Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were unwilling Soviet republics until the 1990-91 collapse of the USSR. They joined NATO and the EU in 2004.
	"The exercise is very important given the current security situation," Latvian Defence Minister Raimonds Vejonis told reporters, citing the Ukraine crisis.
	Russia was quick to label the games an "act of aggression," ...

NATO launches fresh war games near Russia border

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who took office today, tasked prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab with forming a new government after the previous cabinet resigned, the presidency said.
	Ex-army chief Sisi was sworn in yesterday after winning a lopsided victory in a vote boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood movement of Mohamed Morsi, the elected president he deposed last July.
	"The president accepted the government's resignation and tasked Mr Mahlab with the formation of a new government to implement the state's vision for the upcoming phase," presidential spokesman Ehab Badawy said in a statement.
	Mahlab said he had not yet begun talks on forming a new government, state news agency MENA reported.
	The previous cabinet installed by Sisi, Egypt's de facto leader since he ousted Morsi, resigned today to allow the new president to "choose an appropriate one to serve the nation", Mahlab said in an earlier statement.
	"I assure you that along with the ministers... I exerted all efforts .

Egypt's Sisi tells outgoing PM to form new govt

Tens of thousands of people from Pakistan's most troubled tribal district have fled their homes fearing a long-awaited military operation is imminent, officials and residents said today.
	A government official in Peshawar told AFP that some 58,000 people, mostly women and children, had fled North Waziristan district since air strikes targeting militants in late May killed at least 75 people.
	The exodus has increased rapidly in recent days, with more than 25,000 fleeing their homes in the last 48 hours alone, he added.
	An official in the district's main town of Miranshah confirmed the migration was underway to various parts of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkwha province.
	"I am taking my family to a safer location," said one resident who did not wish to be named.
	The rugged district that lies on the border with Afghanistan is the main stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the lawless tribal belt after the Pakistani military launched offensives in the six other ...

Thousands flee Pakistan tribal district fearing operation

Women from across the United States battled for the traditional Miss USA crown, and in the end, it was ex-tae kwon do teacher Nia Sanchez of Nevada who took it home.
	Asked if she needed any pageant protection, the 24-year-old martial arts champion joked: "I appreciate the security we have. But I feel confident."
	Sanchez so excelled at tae kwan do that she was a teacher as a teenager.
	A total of 51 contestants from each US state plus the District of Columbia squared off in the pageant's gown, swimsuit and interview segments in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, yesterday.
	The old-school competition style -- redolent of high heels, sequins and mascara -- may be the bane of feminists.
	But it also remains a guilty pleasure for millions of television viewers, ratings show.
	In addition, it includes scholarship money so that studies remain on the horizon for the winner.
	One contestant intriguingly portrayed herself as someone who overcame devastating school bullying -- in part by becoming an ...

AFP

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