A fierce battle erupted today for control of the main airport in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, just hours after president-elect Petro Poroshenko vowed he would not let the country become another Somalia.
	Ukrainian fighter jets and combat helicopters struck the terminal building at Donetsk airport to try to dislodge separatist gunmen who seized the complex, triggering heavy gun battles.
	It was the most forceful action by the Kiev government in its battle to crush a bloody pro-Moscow insurgency that has raged in the industrial east since early April, threatening to tear apart the former Soviet state.
	Plumes of thick black smoke rose from the airport complex as the sound of explosions and heavy machinegun fire rang out throughout much of the day, AFP correspondents at the scene said.
	Scores of gunmen had stormed the airport in an apparent show of defiance against Poroshenko, the Ukrainian magnate who claimed a resounding victory in yesterday's presidential poll.
	Ukraine's election ...

Battle for key Ukraine airport as Poroshenko vows 'no Somalia'

PTI Automatic

The United States today called for calm in Malawi after polls to elect a new president raised the specter of a protracted political crisis.
	With at least 90 per cent of the votes counted over the weekend, it was unclear if election watchdogs would immediately release the results -- and if the outcome would be recognised.
	"We join the African Union and the international community in calling for calm as the Malawi Election Commission works to tally the vote and to resolve any challenges or complaints," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
	"We urge all political leaders and their supporters to refrain from violence, and to resolve any disputes in a manner that adheres to Malawi's laws and its constitution."
	Amid reports of irregularities, the electoral commission, the country's incumbent president and opposition parties are embroiled in lawsuits and counter-suits over the count.

US calls for calm after Malawi vote

Kuwait today expressed its hopes that a landmark visit by Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to visit Iran next week will strengthen security, stability and peace in the Gulf.
	The visit comes amid a recent thaw in relations between Shiite Iran and the Sunni-ruled Gulf states despite high sectarian tensions over the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
	Sheikh Sabah, on his first visit to Tehran as head of state, will lead a high level delegation consisting of the ministers of foreign affairs, oil, finance and commerce and industry, the cabinet said in a statement.
	It said it hoped the visit "would boost cooperation in various fields," as well as strengthening "security, stability and peace in the region," in the statement issued after the weekly cabinet meeting.
	The two-day visit will start on June 1, the cabinet said.
	Iran's newly-appointed ambassador to Kuwait Ali Riza told reporters today the emir's visit "will give a push to regional cooperation and consolidate ties".
	He said Sheikh 

Kuwait hopes emir visit to Iran will boost Gulf peace

The triumph of France's far right National Front (FN) in European elections has left President Francois Hollande fighting for his political life, allies and analysts warned today.
	A day after his Socialist Party polled a record low of less than 14 per cent and one in four voters backed the FN, Hollande was hit by another stinging rebuke from the country's disgruntled electorate.
	A poll released today revealed that only 11 per cent of voters think he would be a good presidential candidate for the Socialists in 2017.
	With his authority crumbling, Hollande also faces the prospect of a rebellion within his party, where a significant minority of deputies blame the government's attempts to comply with the rules of the euro single currency for turning voters against the party and the European Union (EU).
	Le Nouvel Observateur, an influential left-leaning weekly, concluded bluntly that: "Hollande no longer has any chance for 2017," and urged the French left to turn its attention to ...

Hollande facing KO after far-right Euro triumph

An opera telling the life story of the late South African icon Nelson Mandela showed only three performances before it closed down for lack of funds, its producer said today.
	"Madiba: The African Opera" premiered on Friday at the State Theatre in Pretoria but was forced to close three days later when it ran out of money to pay performers.
	"This is due to non-payment from Lotto," said producer Unathi Mtirara, who is also Mandela's grandnephew.
	"We are still waiting for them to pay, we couldn't continue pending that deal."
	The opera, which tells the early life of the anti-apartheid icon who died last year, was supposed to be move to Mandela's childhood village and final resting place Qunu from Pretoria.
	It was then expected to tour South Africa before heading overseas.
	Mandela, who was South Africa's first black president, died on December 5 at the age of 95 after a lengthy illness.
	Several books and movies about his life have been produced locally and abroad, including the ...

Mandela opera cancelled after 3 performances

South African business and opposition leaders today expressed concern over President Jacob Zuma's new cabinet, while the media accused him of bowing to pressure from labour and communist allies.
	Zuma announced a 35-member cabinet late yesterday to see through his second term, which notably included the country's first black finance minister since the advent of democracy 20 years ago.
	Nhlanhla Nene, 55, the former deputy head of the treasury, replaced Pravin Gordhan, of Indian origin, who was moved to the local government portfolio.
	The cabinet "does not inspire confidence that South Africa's major challenges -- weak economic growth, unemployment and corruption -- will be tackled effectively," said opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille.
	"The move of Pravin Gordhan from the Treasury to Co-operative Government will almost certainly have negative consequences for international investor sentiment towards South Africa," she said.
	Business Unity South Africa, a leading ...

Concern over economic impact of S Africa's new cabinet

Sudanese prosecutors today banned journalists from reporting on the case of former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, detained after reportedly accusing a counter-insurgency unit of abuses against civilians in Darfur.
	The order comes after a watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, warned of authorities' "increasingly repressive attitude to the media", despite government talk of greater freedoms in the country.
	Mahdi is charged with treason-related offences and could face a possible death sentence if convicted.
	State security prosecutors "banned the publication and the media's dealing with the criminal case" of Mahdi, the official SUNA news agency said.
	The decision was made to avoid negatively affecting the investigation and course of justice, it said.
	The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested Mahdi, chief of the opposition Umma Party, on May 17.
	He had reportedly accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are under the authority of NISS, of rape and other ...

Sudan bans media from reporting on detained ex-PM

Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo submitted his government's resignation to King Philip today following general elections at the weekend, the palace said in a statement.
	"The king accepted the resignation and asked the government to continue in a caretaker capacity," the statement said.
	The Flemish separatist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) won 32 percent of yesterday's vote in the language-divided country, making it the largest party in its Flanders heartland and in the country as a whole.
	In line with the country's traditions, King Philip is therefore expected to ask De Wever to try to put together a governing coalition.
	Attention has been focused on the N-VA showing in the election, the first since an inconclusive 2010 ballot left the divided country without a government for a world record 541 days.
	Though De Wever's triumph was larger than expected, the French language press Monday dubbed it "an incomplete triumph" and a "non-guaranteed win", while Flemish papers called it a ...

Belgium PM Di Rupo hands in cabinet resignation after poll

Jordan today expelled Syria's ambassador over his "repeated insults" to the kingdom, drawing a swift tit-for-tat response from Damascus, which ordered Amman's top diplomat to leave.
	On the battlefield, Syrian rebels made advances in the war-torn country's northwest, seizing several army checkpoints and inching closer towards taking over two major bases, according to a monitor and activists said.
	In Amman, Jordanian foreign ministry spokeswoman Sabah Rafi said the government "considers the Syrian ambassador to Jordan persona non grata and has demanded he leave the country within 24 hours."
	"The decision comes after Suleiman's repeated insults to Jordan and its leadership, institutions and citizens, through his meetings, writings and social media websites," she said, cited by state-run news agency Petra.
	Rafi said the government in Jordan, which is hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the conflict across its borders, had "repeatedly warned Suleiman not to exploit Jordanian 

Jordan expels Syria ambassador as rebels advance in northwest

A Turkish court today ordered the arrest of four former Israeli military chiefs over a deadly 2010 maritime assault, in a move which could jeopardise reconciliation efforts between the countries.
	The court in Istanbul will ask Interpol to issue international arrest warrants for four men involved in a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship, Cihat Gokdemir, a lawyer working on the case, told AFP.
	The ruling is part of an ongoing criminal trial in absentia of the four men on charges brought by aid group IHH and the victims' families in 2012, which has been denounced as a "show" by Israel.
	It also follows months of negotiations between former allies Turkey and Israel to end a diplomatic row sparked when nine activists were killed after Israeli commandos boarded the Turkish-flagged ship.
	An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the court's decision today as a "ridiculous provocation".
	"If this is the message that the Turks want to send to Israel, it was ...

Turkish court orders arrest of Israeli top brass

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi scored a dramatic victory against eurosceptics in weekend EU elections that will give his centre-left Democratic Party a leading voice in Europe and bolster his ambitious reform programme.
	The 39-year-old promised to reform Italy and Europe as a whole after his party won 40.8 per cent against 21.2 per cent for the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and 16.8 per cent for disgraced former leader Silvio Berlusconi.
	The landslide gives the Democratic Party the highest number of MEPs among Europe's leftists and was one of the best showings for any European leader -- a far higher result than the 25.4 per cent it scored in a 2013 general election.
	"This is Italy's moment," Renzi said at a press conference.
 	"Italy is stronger than the fears that traverse it and it has decided to make a difference in Europe," he said, adding that Italy could now be "a leader, not a follower".
	Investors reacted enthusiastically with stocks in Milan leading European ..

Italy's Renzi crushes eurosceptics in surprise EU win

Belgium investigators today probed a possible terrorist link in a fatal weekend shooting by a lone gunman at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that has shocked the world.
	The inquiry over the shooting, which killed three people outright and left a young man brain dead, was initially opened for murder and attempted "murder with premeditation."
	Yesterday, the inquiry was transferred to the federal public prosecutor's office authorised to handle terrorist cases and spokeswoman Wenke Roggen said a probe had been opened into "terrorist" assassination.
	Police analysis of images from the surveillance cameras at the museum show "a man killing in cold blood ... With great determination," Roggen said.
	"These facts combined with the fact that the shooting lasted less than a minute and a half leads us to think there may be a terrorist motive," she told a news conference.
	Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch said the decision to transfer the case was based on "the identity and ...

Belgium probes terrorist link in Jewish Museum killings

Serbia's second seed Novak Djokovic opened his bid for a maiden French Open title today with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 first round win over Portugal's Joao Sousa.
     The six-time Grand Slam winner is only missing the Roland Garros title to complete his set of all four majors and began in style with a confident showing on the Philippe Chatrier centre court.
     During a match interrupted by rain, the 27-year-old Belgrade native was at his charismatic best on and off the court as he even had time to chat extensively with a ball boy during a brief rain delay.
     He offered the young lad a drink and clinked bottles with him as the crowd roared their approval.
     On the court, Sousa, ranked 42 in the world and a French Open best of reaching the second round last year, was outclassed by Djokovic's all round game.
     The Serb, who is coming off a stellar showing in Rome where he defeated Rafael Nadal, following earlier victories in 2014 at Indian Wells and Miami, converted eight of 15 break ..

Djokovic opens French quest with comfortable win

Pakistan's cricket chiefs today began an inquiry into the spending of $200,000, which they said was  not accounted for during the tenure of former chairman Zaka Ashraf.
     The spending relates to Ashraf's rocky 22-month tenure, during which time he was suspended by the Islamabad High Court before being restored to the post twice and finally sacked again.
     The musical chairs at the top of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which has seen the chairmanship alternate between Ashraf and veteran journalist Najam Sethi, has led to widespread ridicule both at home and abroad.
     Monday's move came after the compilation of an internal audit report, according to a board statement.
     "The management committee took note of the outstanding arrears of approximately 20 million rupees detailed in the internal audit report for the period Ashraf was chairman," the statement said, adding the committee would attempt to recover the sum.
     Ashraf was first appointed chairman in October 2011 ...

Pakistan to probe 'missing' $200,000

North Korea and Japan kicked off three days of talks in Stockholm today, with the fate of Japanese nationals kidnapped decades ago by Pyongyang set to top the agenda.
	The meeting in the Swedish capital takes place after the two countries held their first official talks in 16 months in China in March, addressing a range of subjects including the abduction issue and North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
	Prior to the discussions at a small Stockholm hotel, the two delegations -- eight on either side -- appeared briefly in front of the media, the majority Japanese reporters flown in for the occasion.
	Wearing stern expressions and making no eye contact with each other, the two delegations welcomed the opportunity to talk.
	"Over the next three days, we want to hold forward-looking talks, based on issues we raised at the government talks in Beijing," said Japanese chief delegate Junichi Ihara, the director general of the foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.
	"We also .

Japan, N Korea start three-day meet in Stockholm

Though no stranger to controversy or diatribe, the European Parliament is set to usher in its first fully-fledged neo-Nazis members, from Germany and Greece.
	With around 300,000 votes at yesterday's European elections the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) is expected to claim one of the country's 96 seats in the new Parliament, in a historical ground-breaker.
	A recent change in German electoral laws, scrapping all minimum thresholds, paved the way for the march into parliament of the NPD, which has 6,000 members.
	It describes itself as "national socialist," just like Germany's Nazis in the 1930s, and is openly xenophobic and anti-semitic so a group of German regional governments have tried to have it banned for propagating racism.
	Meanwhile, with almost all ballots counted in Greece, the neo-Nazi "Golden Dawn" party is claiming over nine percent of the vote, which would net it three seats in the 751-member Parliament.
	Golden Dawn was founded in the 1980s by ...

European Parliament set to usher in first neo-Nazis

Sony will bring its PlayStation consoles to China through two joint ventures, the Japanese gaming giant and its Chinese partner both said today, as they seek to tap a newly opened market.
	China in January formally authorised the domestic sale of game consoles made in its first free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, opening up a market with an estimated 500 million players to foreign companies including Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
	The Japanese firm's newest games console - PlayStation 4 - has seen record demand since its launch in late 2013 with sales topping seven million units globally last month.
	The opening of the huge Chinese market could be a major boost for Sony's videogame business, its chief executive said today, as the firm looks to cast off years of losses.
	"The Chinese market, just given the size of it, is obviously potentially a very large market for videogame products," Kazuo Hirai told reporters at Sony's headquarters in Tokyo.
	"I think that we will be able to ...

Sony to sell PlayStation in newly opened China market

Two Kenyan soldiers were killed today when militants from Somalia's Shebab rebels ambushed a military convoy near Lamu on the Kenya-Somalia border, reports said.
	The soldiers were attacked while transporting food supplies to a military camp across the border, the Nation newspaper said, adding that several other soldiers were also wounded.
	Kenyan military officials only confirmed that some of their troops were hurt and said one of the attackers was killed.
	"Our officers are in hot pursuit of the other attackers, who fled following the shoot-out," Kenya Defence Forces spokesman Willy Wesonga told AFP.
	The attack took place near Ras Kamboni on the Kenya-Somalia border, he added.
	Kenyan troops crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to fight the Shebab, later joining the now 22,000-strong United Nations-mandated African Union force battling the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists.
	Since then, the east African nation has suffered a string of attacks, including one on the Westgate mall in ...

Two Kenyan soldiers killed in suspected Shebab attack

Syria is to expel Jordan's charge d'affaires, in a tit-for-tat move hours after Amman gave the Syrian ambassador 24 hours to leave the kingdom, state-run television said today.
	"The Syrian foreign ministry will order the expulsion of the Jordanian charge d'affaires to Damascus, after the Jordanian foreign ministry declared the Syrian ambassador to Amman persona non grata," said Al-Ikhbariya television.
	It quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying that the Jordanian charge d'affaires is considered by Damascus persona non grata.
	"In response to the Jordanian government's baseless decision to declare the Syrian ambassador to Amman persona non grata, the Syrian government has decided to declare the Jordanian charge d'affaires in Damascus persona non grata," said the ministry.
	Earlier, Jordan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Sabah Rafi said Syrian ambassador Bahjat Suleiman's expulsion came after "repeated insults to Jordan and its leadership, institutions and citizens, through his ..

Syria expels Jordan envoy in tit-for-tat move: ministry

Maria Sharapova reached the French Open second round on Monday at a damp and chilly Roland Garros as Japanese hope Kei Nishikori became the tournament's first major casualty.
     Sharapova, seeded seven and the 2012 champion, needed just over an hour to beat fellow Russian, Ksenia Pervak, the world's 156th-ranked player, 6-1, 6-2.
     The 27-year-old, who lost last year's final to Serena Williams, looked comfortable under the cloudy conditions on the Philippe Chatrier court, breaking her opponent five times.
     Sharapova will next face Bulgaria's 2010 Wimbledon semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova.
     "First matches at Grand Slams are always tough, no matter how prepared you are, no matter how many matches you've played," said Sharapova, now 13-1 on clay in 2014 with titles in Stuttgart and Madrid.
     "There is always a bit more tension in that type of Grand Slam atmosphere. It's certainly more special, especially when you walk out on court."
     Japanese ninth seed Nishikori was 

Sharapova shines, Nishikori crashes at French Open

A suicide bomber on a motorbike killed at least two Afghan soldiers today in an attack on a military bus in Kabul as the country prepares to hold a run-off presidential election.
	Emergency vehicles rushed to the scene and ambulances took victims to hospital after the blast wrecked the vehicle and left several other soldiers badly injured.
	"Today at around 3:15 pm, a suicide attacker riding a motorbike detonated himself against a ministry vehicle in the city of Kabul," the ministry of defence said in a statement.
	"As a result, two soldiers were killed, and nine others were wounded."
	The blast came as Afghanistan gears up for the June 14 second-round vote to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, and a day after US President Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to American troops in Afghanistan.
	"I heard this big bang and when I came out of my house, I saw an army bus full of people covered in blood in front of my house," said local resident Faizullah, 25, who like many ...

AFP

AFP

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