General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland's last communist leader who tried but failed to crush the freedom-fighting Solidarity union, died today aged 90, a hospital spokesman said.
	Jaruzelski, who died in a Warsaw hospital with his daughter by his side, marked Polish history by trying to strangle the Soviet bloc's first free trade union with a brutal military crackdown on December 13, 1981.
	But by 1989, he became the first communist leader to clear the way for democracy by agreeing to semi-free elections with Solidarity, led by the charismatic former shipyard electrician and Nobel Peace laureate Lech Walesa.
	"He would have been a great man if he had lived in different era," Walesa once told AFP, calling Jaruzelski "a very intelligent man" who was "part of a generation from an unhappy time".
	"I don't know if he believed sincerely in communism or whether he just let himself get drawn in. I won't judge him. Let God and history do that."
	Jaruzelski -- whose strongman image was accentuated 

Poland's communist-era strongman Jaruzelski dies

PTI Automatic

A 22-year-old man who killed six people in a violent rampage in California convinced police he was not a threat to others in a meeting prior to the attack, officials said today.
	Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said authorities had received a tip on April 30 concerning Elliot Rodger, who took his own life after Friday's killing spree in the town of Isla Vista, outside of the University of California at Santa Barbara.
	A local mental health department official requested law enforcement carry out a welfare check on Rodger following the tip-off, and sheriff's deputies visited the troubled man, Brown told CNN today.
	"They found him to be rather shy and timid, polite, well-spoken," Brown said.
	"He explained to deputies that it was a misunderstanding ... He was able to convince them that he was not at that point a danger to himself or anyone else."
	Looking back, "we certainly, you know, wish that we could turn the clock back and maybe change some things," Brown said in a separate 

California gunman 'not a danger' pre-rampage: police

Europeans today voted in EU parliamentary elections, the final day of a massive process expected to give eurosceptic parties a boost.
	Voters in 21 EU states -- including France, Germany and Italy -- headed to the polls to elect 600 of 751 European parliamentarians, ending a four-day vote that began in Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday.
	Greece, Romania and Lithuania got the voting underway at 9.30 AM but no results will be announced in any of the countries until polls close in the last country, Italy, at 2.30 AM.
	The voting takes place amid anger over belt-tightening measures imposed by Brussels to correct the euro crisis, as well as concern over the chaos unravelling on Europe's eastern border in Ukraine, where a presidential vote was also taking place.
	"These elections are a chance for new people, for young people, to get involved," and for Greece's austerity measures "to be abolished, or otherwise, we'll die of hunger," said Eftstathia Baharaki, 62.
	If opinion polls prove 

Mammoth EU vote winds up with all eyes on eurosceptics

Pope Francis today said he was deeply saddened by a deadly shooting attack in Belgium which left three people dead, including two Israelis.
	"I am profoundly saddened, my thoughts go out to those who lost their lives in the attack in Brussels," the 77-year-old pontiff said as he arrived in Israel on the final leg of a three-day Middle East tour.
	"I entrust the victims to God," he said of the attack which took place at the Jewish museum in the Belgian capital. The shooting also killed a French national and left a fourth person in critical condition.
	The attack, which took place in central Brussels yesterday afternoon, drew condemnation from European leaders, and was blamed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a growing wave of anti-Semitism sweeping Europe.
	By contrast, the Israeli leader welcomed the pope's "determined stance" against anti-Semitism.
	Speaking at a formal ceremony at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv after flying in from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, ...

Pope deeply saddened over Brussels museum shooting

Nico Rosberg turned his controversial pole position into faultless victory for Mercedes on Sunday when he regained the lead in the drivers' world championship by winning the Monaco Grand Prix.
     The 28-year-old German came home 9.2 seconds clear of nearest rival and team-mate Lewis Hamilton who coped with loss of vision in one eye as he held off Australian Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull in the closing laps.
     It was Rosberg's second consecutive victory in his home event, his second win of the 2014 season and the fifth win of his career.
     Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Force India and Jenson Button who finished sixth for McLaren.
     Felipe Massa came home seventh for Williams, Jules Bianchi was eighth for Marussia ahead of fellow-Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus and Kevin Magnussen finished 10th in the second McLaren.
     Rosberg's win carried him to 122 points in the title race ahead of Hamilton, who was only half a second ahead of .

Rosberg wins in Monaco to regain championship lead

Tillakaratne Dilshan made a crucial contribution of 88 runs as Sri Lanka finished on 256-8 after being put in to bat for the second successive one-day international against England on Sunday.
     Dilshan was involved in an intriguing battle at the start of the innings at Chester-le-Street with James Anderson, who was the pick of the England bowlers as he took two wickets, including his 250th in ODI cricket.
     Ashan Priyanjan added an important 43 runs for the tourists and there were three wickets for Harry Gurney near the end of the innings.
     It was not surprising that Eoin Morgan, captaining England in place of the injured Alastair Cook, decided to field when he won the toss.
     Sri Lanka knew they would face an early examination from test from England's seamers in the cloudy conditions.
     James Anderson, in particular, posed problems for the opening batsmen Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne and the latter faced 18 balls before finally getting off the mark.
     Anderson ...

Sri Lanka 256-8 against England

Roger Federer kicked off his 16th consecutive French Open with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over Slovakia's Lukas Lacko on Sunday, his first victory since becoming a father of twins for the second time.
     The 32-year-old Swiss, who won his only Paris title in 2009, was watched by wife Mirka and older twins Myla and Charlene but not three-week old Lenny and Leo.
     Sunday's triumph was also his 59th at Roland Garros, tying eight-time champion Rafael Nadal as the tournament's win specialist.
     Federer was never troubled by Lacko, the world number 88 who has not won a claycourt match for three years.
     Breaks in the fifth and seventh games of the opening set followed by another in the third game of the second put the 17-time major winner in total control.
     Federer broke again in the first and fifth games of the third set against the hapless Lacko to seal victory in just 84 minutes, a performance highlighted by 40 winners.
     Federer goes on to face either Portugal's Gastao Elias .

Child's play as Federer, Raonic breeze through in Paris

The online newspaper launched this week by Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez can now be viewed from the communist-run island, after four days of being blocked.
	Sanchez had launched her new site Wednesday morning, promising to offer Cubans "a complete spectrum of news, opinion pieces and information" about life on the island.
	She aimed to make her "14ymedio" site Cuba's first independent news outlet in 50 years.
	But within hours, people in Cuba who tried to connect to it were redirected to another page, Yoanislandia.Com, filled with attacks on the prize-winning writer and pieces by pro-government bloggers.
	The state has controlled all media since the early days of the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.
	However, starting late yesterday, the site was able to load normally within Cuba
	Sanchez quickly took to her Twitter page to inform readers.
	"14ymedio is accessible on Cuba's networks. Hurry net users before the next block," she wrote.
	The unblocking of the ..

Dissident's new online newspaper unblocked in Cuba

Ukrainians turned out en masse today in an election seen as crucial to ending months of bloody upheaval but pro-Russian rebels managed to shut down polling in swathes of the east.
	   The former Soviet republic is fighting for its very survival after Russia seized Crimea and separatists launched an armed uprising in the eastern industrial belt, the worst crisis since independence over two decades ago.
	   "The first thing we must do is bring peace to all the citizens of Ukraine," said billionaire tycoon Petro Poroshenko, the clear favourite in a packed field of candidates to lead the former Soviet republic.
	   "Armed people must leave the streets of towns and cities," he said after casting his ballot in Kiev.
	   Turnout across the country was reported at over 38 per cent after seven hours of voting.
	   The West is closely watching the vote -- and Russia's actions -- fearing civil war could break out on Europe's doorstep.
	   Poroshenko called for "direct dialogue" with the people ..

Ukraine voters out in force but poll blocked in rebel east

A replica of Egypt's iconic Sphinx built in northern China will be dismantled after an Egyptian ministry complained about the structure, state media said today.
	A massive replica of the ancient statue was built in Hebei province, the official Xinhua news agency said.
	But Egypt's ministry of antiquities complained to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) about the Chinese imitation, it cited a source as saying.
	The report quoted an official with a cultural park on the outskirts of the provincial capital Shijiazhuang as saying the imitation would serve only as a temporary scene for shooting movies and television dramas.
	"We are very respectful to world cultural heritage and express our apologies for any misunderstanding," added the official, who declined to be named.
	The replica, about 80 meters long and 30 meters tall, is made of steel bars and cement.
	Already notorious for copying Western goods ranging from trainers to champagne, China is .

China's fake Sphinx to be demolished: state media

At least 10 people were killed in a car bomb attack today targeting a regime-held area of  the city of Homs in central Syria, the province's governor said.
	"Ten people were killed and 22 wounded in a car bomb attack on a collective taxi stand in Zahraa," a district inhabited by Alawites, the Shiite sect of President Bashar al-Assad, Talal al-Barazi told AFP.
	Barazi had earlier reported a toll of eight, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a death toll of 12.
	A second car bomb exploded in another district of the city, wounding three people but without causing more deaths, said Barazi.
	Homs has seen some of the worst violence in Syria's more than three-year-old civil war.
	For almost two years, anti-regime fighters and local residents were trapped in a suffocating army siege of the Old City in the heart of Homs.
	They were evacuated earlier this month under an unprecedented deal involving a major rebel coalition and Iran, a strong backer of the regime.
	The end of the .

Car bomb in Syria's Homs kills 10: governor

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg came under pressure today to step down as leader of the Liberal Democrats after the centrist party took a pounding in local elections.
	   Two would-be Lib Dem parliamentary candidates -- staring at a much-reduced prospect of winning a seat at next year's general election -- have put their names to an online letter, signed by more than 200 party members, calling for Clegg to step aside.
	   He insisted Friday he would not quit despite being down 307 seats to 427 in the English local authority seats voted for on Thursday, with two of the 161 councils still to declare.
	   The unashamedly pro-EU party is expected to take another battering when the European Parliament election results are announced later Sunday.
	   Clegg has acknowledged they could lose all 11 of their MEPs.
	   A projected national share of the local councils vote suggested that in a Britain-wide election, the Liberals would have been fourth on 13 percent -- having taken 23 ...

British deputy PM faces calls to quit

Yemen's military and Al-Qaeda suspects who fled an army offensive in the south clashed in a district near the capital today, killing six troops and three jihadists, security and tribal sources said.
	And two overnight drone strikes targeted Al-Qaeda suspects in Wasl, a village in Arhab, 20 kilometres north of Sanaa, tribal sources in the area said.
	The United States is the only country operating drones over Yemen, but US officials rarely acknowledge the covert programme.
	Militants fled the drone strikes to a village in the same area, Ozer, where Yemeni troops launched a ground attack, according to the sources.
	A security official said Yemeni anti-terrorism forces killed three Al-Qaeda militants and arrested four others.
	The tribal sources told AFP that six members of Yemen's special forces also died in the fighting.
	Troops arrested 12 Al-Qaeda suspects -- eight Saudis and four Yemenis, according to the sources.
	The army has sealed off Arhab, they added.
	The sources said the ...

9 killed as Yemen army, 'Qaeda' clash near capital

Israel today blamed rising anti-Semitism for a Brussels shooting attack which killed three, including two Israelis, lashing out at Europe for "hypocrisy" in its attitude to the Jewish state.
	As officials confirmed two Israelis and a French national had been killed in yesterday's deadly attack on the Jewish museum in the Belgian capital, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to hail Pope Francis for his "determined stance" against anti-Semitism.
	"We appreciate the pope's determined stance against anti-Semitism, especially in light of the growing hatred of Jews that we are witness to in these days," Netanyahu said just hours ahead of the pontiff's arrival in Israel as part of a three-day Middle East tour.
	The afternoon shooting shocked Belgium and drew condemnation from top European leaders, although Brussels said it could not immediately confirm whether it was "a terrorist or anti-Semitic act".
	But Netanyahu said the attack was a result of "incessant incitement against Israel 

Netanyahu blasts Europe as 2 Israelis killed in Belgium

An Iranian court convicted otoday the editor and a contributor of a banned newspaper over a series of charges, including lying about Islam and spreading anti-regime propaganda, reports said.
	   The media watchdog banned the reformist Bahar daily in October 2013 after it published an article the authorities deemed as an insult to Shiite Islam for questioning one of its core beliefs.
	   Its editor-in-chief, Saeed Pourazizi, who was detained and released on bail following the closure, was today convicted of "propaganda against the establishment and spreading lies and rumours," ISNA news agency reported.
	   The Tehran criminal court found Ali Asghar Gharavi, the article's author, guilty of writing "against the standards of Islam" and "spreading lies and rumours," the agency added.
	   The decision could see Bahar permanently banned, while Pourazizi and Gharavi now have to wait for the court's ruling on their sentences.

Iran court convicts editor, author of banned daily

Syria's Al-Qaeda branch staged four suicide bomb attacks on army positions today, leaving dozens of casualties, in a bid to cut off Idlib province from the coast, a monitoring group said.
	   "Four Al-Nusra Front fighters carried out suicide attacks this morning, driving vehicles packed with explosives into four regime forces' checkpoints in the Jabal al-Arbaeen area near Ariha city," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	   The Britain-based group said that dozens of troops were killed or wounded, without giving specific figures.
	   Fierce fighting broke out in the area, pitting army troops backed by pro-regime militia against rebels and jihadists, said the Observatory.
	   The air force also struck the area, killing two rebels and wounding another 15, it added.
	   The army controls the cities of Idlib and Ariha in Idlib province of northwest Syria, but much of the countryside is under rebel control.
	   Ariha lies on the road from Idlib to Latakia on the Mediterranean ...

Qaeda in Syria targets army with four suicide bombings

Prominent Bahraini Shiite activist Nabil Rajab issued an appeal today for "serious dialogue" in the Sunni-ruled kingdom following his release after serving a two-year jail term.
	Rajab was arrested in the wake of the Sunni monarchy's crackdown on a month of Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding political reforms, and was jailed for taking part in "unauthorised" demonstrations.
	He was freed yesterday, and is now calling for a fresh round of dialogue between the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty and the opposition representing the Gulf archipelago's Shiite majority.
	"Unfortunately, the situation today is worse than when I went to jail because of an upsurge in violence, which we reject," Rajab told AFP by telephone.
	"The only solution is a serious dialogue between the royal family and the opposition" dominated by the Shiite movement Al-Wefaq, said Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
	"Attempts at dialogue undertaken in the past were not serious and were rather messages to ...

Bahrain Shiite activist freed, urges 'serious dialogue'

Japan today accused China of "dangerous" manoeuvres above disputed areas of the East China Sea, saying a Chinese fighter flew within roughly 30 metres (100 feet) of a Japanese military aircraft.
	A defence ministry spokesman said a Chinese Su-27 jet yesterday flew close to a Japanese OP-3C surveillance plane above the waters where the countries' air defence identification zones overlap.
	Another Chinese SU-27 fighter also flew close to a Japanese YS-11EB plane in the same airspace, the ministry said.
	One fighter jet approached to within about 50 metres and the other was as close as 30 metres to the Japanese planes, according to the spokesman.
	Relations between Japan and China are strained by a territorial dispute over Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea.
	Beijing raised regional tensions in November by declaring an air defence identification zone covering the area, which overlaps a similar Japanese zone.
	"They were dangerous acts that could lead to an accident," Japanese 

China fighters in 'dangerous' brush with Japanese planes

Ukraine was voting today in a presidential election seen as the most important in the country's history as it battles a deadly pro-Russian insurrection in the east.
	Turnout was strong in the capital Kiev and the west but across swathes of the rebel-controlled industrial east, most polling stations remained closed.
	"Ukraine is now another country so I don't see why we should take part in this election," said one woman in the rebel-held city of Donetsk who gave her name as Elisabeta. "It doesn't matter what the result is, it doesn't concern us."
	The West regards the vote as a crucial step in preventing Ukraine from disintegrating further after Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March in retaliation for the ouster of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych.
	Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had issued an appeal for voters to turn out in force to "defend Ukraine" in the face of a crisis that has plunged relations between East-West relations to a post-Cold War .

Ukraine holds key vote shunned by rebel-held east

Egyptian jihadist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis denied today that Shadi al-Menei has been killed, after security sources identified him as its leader and said he had died in an ambush.
	The group also denied Menei was its leader, in a statement published on Islamist militant Internet forums accompanied by a picture of him reading a report about his "death" on a laptop.
	The picture could not be immediately authenticated.
	Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, based in the Sinai Peninsula, has spearheaded attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since July last year when the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
	"They announced that they killed Shadi al-Menei and that he was the emir (leader) of the group. He was neither killed nor was the emir," the statement said.
	The Al-Qaeda inspired group has previously announced the deaths of its operatives and senior commanders, sometimes even before the authorities did.

Egyptian jihadist group Ansar denies 'leader' slain

Jerusalem police arrested 26 Jewish extremists protesting today at a holy site on Mount Zion outside the Old City that will be visited by Pope Francis, a spokesman said.
	The arrests took place just hours before Francis' arrival in Jerusalem.
	"Demonstrators at King David's Tomb threw stones and bottles at the security forces, lightly injuring two police," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, referring to a site revered as holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims where the pope will celebrate mass tomorrow.
	"Among those arrested was a soldier who threatened a police officer with his weapon when one of his friends was arrested," he added, saying some of them had broken into the room where the ancient sarcophagus is located before being evacuated.
	Israeli public radio said 150 extremists had gathered to denounce the pope's upcoming visit and were chanting slogans against the atrocities committed by the church against Jews during the Crusades and the Inquisition.
	The upper floor of the ...

AFP

AFP

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