Pope Francis made what he called a "heartfelt appeal" today for peace in war-torn Syria as he began a three-day pilgrimage to the Middle East.
	Speaking to hundreds of Syrian refugees along the Jordan River, the pope called for an end to the civil war which has cost more than 160,000 lives, urging "all parties to abandon the attempt to resolve issues by the use of arms and return to negotiations".
	Jordan is the first stop on Francis's "pilgrimage of prayer" which continues Sunday in the Palestinian territories and Israel.
	His landmark maiden visit to the Holy Land is chiefly aimed at boosting ties with Muslims and Jews, as well as seeking closer unity with Orthodox Christian leaders.
	As he walked off the plane onto a red carpet at Amman airport, his white robes flapping in the hot desert wind, he was greeted by officials and two children dressed in traditional costume who handed him bouquets of irises, the national flower of Jordan.
	After being greeted by King Abdullah II, Francis 

Pope in Syria peace appeal at start of Mideast tour

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Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan roused cheering supporters today at a speech in Germany, the country with the most overseas Turks, shrugging off street protests there labelling him a "dictator".
	Erdogan is expected to run for Turkey's presidency in August, and Germany -- with a Turkish community of three million, half of them eligible voters -- would be a strong constituency for the controversial leader.
	The premier urged the adoring crowd to register for the election, the first in which overseas Turks don't have to travel to the homeland to vote, and added: "God willing, we will announce our presidential candidate as soon as possible."
	Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) have polarised Turks at home and abroad over what critics call his authoritarian style, a crackdown on civil liberties and corruption scandals under his rule.
	In the western German city of Cologne, where Erdogan spoke, at least 40,000 protesters marched on the opposite bank of .

Erdogan 'campaign speech' rouses Turks in Germany

The US government today condemned a "cowardly" Shebab rebel attack in Somalia that left at least 10 people dead.
	"The United States strongly condemns today's Al-Shebab attack on the Somali parliament," said the US State Department's deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.
	"We continue to stand firmly with the federal government of Somalia and the many international partners working to support its efforts to root out the threat posed by Al-Shebab, and to build a more secure and prosperous future for the Somali people," Harf said in a statement.
	"Cowardly acts such as these will not shake our resolve."
	The attack occurred when rebels set off a car bomb and stormed the building wearing suicide vests. It took Somali security forces and African Union troops more than four hours to end it.
	Authorities did not immediately provide an overall death toll but a police official and government source said 10 people, including several attackers, were confirmed dead.
	Harf said US officials "extend our .

US condemns 'cowardly' Shebab attack in Somalia

A car bomb outside an alcohol shop in an ethnically-mixed northern Iraqi city killed at least seven people today evening, security and medical officials said.
	The blast, which also wounded 17, struck in the Wasati neighbourhood in southern Kirkuk, a tinderbox city that is at the centre of a long-running territorial dispute between the central government and Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
	The evening explosion came amid a protracted surge in bloodshed that has left more than 3,700 people dead so far this year, fuelling fears Iraq is slipping back into the all-out conflict that plagued it in 2006 and 2007.
	Attacks elsewhere in the country today killed 10 other people, including three farmers who were found beheaded, officials said.
	Violence has surged in the past year to its highest level since 2008, while anti-government fighters also control an entire city a short drive from Baghdad and parts of another.

Car bomb at Iraq alcohol shop kills seven: officials

Lebanon is to extradite to Italy an ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi wanted by Rome over mafia links, an official and his lawyer said today.
	"Lebanon has agreed to an Italian request to extradite (former) senator Marcello Dell'Utri," who was arrested in Beirut in mid-April on an Interpol warrant, lawyer Nasser al-Khalil told AFP.
	Khalil said he will appeal the extradition order.
	An official source confirmed the decision and said outgoing President Michel Sleiman signed the extradition agreement with Italy just hours before his mandate ends at midnight.
	The source, who declined to be named, did not say when the suspect would be handed over.
	A judicial source confirmed to AFP that Lebanon had agreed to extradite Dell'Utri.
	Earlier this month, Italy's top court upheld a seven-year sentence against Dell'Utri, who is accused of serving as a mediator between Berlusconi and the Sicilian mafia.
	The 72-year-old led the advertising arm of Berlusconi's media business ...

Lebanon agrees to extradite Berlusconi ally to Italy

An original page of drawings featuring the intrepid boy reporter Tintin sold at auction today for more than two million euros, a new world record for a comic strip.
	The piece, dating from 1937 and signed by the creator Herge, went to an American collector after 15 minutes of furious bidding at the Artcurial auction in Paris.
	Experts said the sum, 2.5 million euros (USD 3.4 million) including fees, or 2.1 million euros without, reflects the new enthusiasm for cartoon items, which have seen prices soar in a decade.
	The piece sold today is a double page ink drawing created by the Belgian artist for the inside cover of the Tintin adventures published between 1937 and 1958, featuring images drawn from the various albums.
	Tintin appears with his dog Snowy in different situations, as a cowboy, an explorer, a knight in shining armour, on a horse or in the desert.
	The previously highest-selling comic piece, also by Herge -- the cover for "Tintin in America" created in 1932 -- sold for 1.3 

Tintin sets comic strip record at auction

Cuba today accused Washington of being a major sponsor of an opposition newspaper whose online debut it blocked earlier this week.
	The state-run Granma newspaper, in the first official government reaction to the "14yMedio" online daily launched by dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, said the publication was "counter-revolutionary" and got up and running thanks to substantial US backing.
	"The US government lent its full support to counter- revolutionary blogger Yoani Sanchez," the Cuban daily wrote, adding that Havana "will never tolerate any kind of subversive activity."
	Sanchez launched her news website early Wednesday but three hours later it was blocked in Cuba, in what the US State Department called a restriction of Cubans' "freedom of expression and of the press."
	Sanchez had hoped that her online media venture would be Cuba's first independent news outlet in 50 years.
	People in Cuba who tried to access the site however, were redirected to another page, filled with attacks on ..

US was major backer of blocked dissident website: Cuba

Bennett Miller scooped up the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival today for "Foxcatcher", a film based on the real-life murder of an Olympic wrestler by multi-millionaire John du Pont.
	The 47-year-old's third feature film had critics raving and viewers were left particularly stunned by Steve Carell, whose performance as the deranged, sinister du Pont marked a complete turnaround from his previous funny man roles.
	The film also stars Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as Mark and Dave Schultz, two wrestling-champion brothers.
	Miller has only made three feature films, but already he is a regular at international award ceremonies.
	He directed his childhood friend Philip Seymour Hoffman to Oscar glory with "Capote", his 2005 biopic of author and playwright Truman Capote.
	Hoffman also won a BAFTA and Golden Globe for his performance.
	Then came "Moneyball", a 2011 biographical baseball drama which also got several award nominations.
	Miller took eight years to prepare ...

Bennett Miller of US wins best director at Cannes

The Socialists' top candidate in European elections, Martin Schulz, drew online ridicule today for telling Germans only a vote for his party would ensure one of their compatriots runs the European Commission.
	"Only if you vote for Martin Schulz and the SPD (Social Democratic Party) can a German become president of the EU Commission" read an advertisement published in Germany's top-selling Bild daily ahead of the election.
	The appeal to national sentiment in the pan-European polls quickly sparked derisive commentary on Twitter under the hashtag #NureinDeutscher (Only a German).
	"Youth unemployment in Europe is a huge problem, only a German can solve it," quipped journalist and blogger Tilo Jung.
	"Foreigners at the head of the European Commission? Not under German Social Democracy," chimed in Sven Kindler of the ecologist Greens.
	Guy Verhofstadt, the top Liberal candidate for the Commission presidency, made the point on Twitter that "Germans deserve the best president of the ...

Schulz mocked for 'German' appeal in EU election ad

Tropical Storm Amanda intensified today, becoming the season's first hurricane as it churned off Mexico's Pacific coast, weather officials said.
	Mexico's National Meteorological Service said in its 1530 GMT bulletin that Amanda attained maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour, making it a category one hurricane.
	The storm, which is continuing to strengthen, could eventually become a category three storm, weather officials said, the designation for storms with winds of up to 129 miles per hour.
	Located about 1,000 kilometers southwest of the port city of Manzanillo, Amanda poses no immediate threat to land for now, forecasters said.
	The hurricane was moving toward the northwest at around seven kilometers per hour.
	Amanda gets the 2014 hurricane season -- which officially gets underway on June 1 -- off to an early start.
	Forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States predicted last week that the 2014 season would be "near or ...

Amanda strengthens to become season's first hurricane

A Rwandan peacekeeper was killed and three others were wounded in a gunbattle today after trying to mediate a tribal dispute in Sudan's Darfur region, an African Union-UN mission said.
	"As a result of the ensuing fighting, four Rwandan peacekeepers were injured and, unfortunately, one of them died from his wounds," UNAMID said in a statement.
	One of the wounded peacekeepers is in a critical condition, it said.
	The incident occurred in Kebkabiya, about 140 kilometres west of El Fasher, the North Darfur state capital.
	After altercations between non-Arab Fur people from one village and an Arab militia from another community, a UNAMID team attended a mediation session in an effort to ease tensions.
	"The Arab militia elements, nevertheless, became hostile towards UNAMID peacekeepers and started shooting at them, at which point the peacekeepers returned fire," the mission said.
	"The fighting left an unconfirmed number of casualties among the assailants."
	UNAMID chief Mohamed Ibn ...

Peacekeeper killed, three wounded in Sudan's Darfur: UNAMID

At least three people were killed and 55 injured in a spate of bombing attacks today in crisis-wracked Thailand's deep south, where an Islamic insurgency has raged for a decade, the military and Thai media reports said.
	Attacks were reported in Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat provinces, according to the reports, which also said gunfire was heard in at least one area.
	Southern region military spokesman Colonel Piamote Prom-In told Thai television the attacks broke out in several places this evening.
	"The explosions occurred in busy areas as people were shopping ahead of curfew," he said, referring to a night-time curfew imposed since Thursday, when the kingdom's army chief seized power in Thailand, deposing the civilian government.
	"Explosions killed three and injured 55 people. Of those, five people were seriously injured."
	The Bangkok Post said at least 13 attacks erupted in Pattani provice at about the same time, suggesting a coordinated offensive, at "three 7-Eleven outlets, the 

Three dead, 55 injured in S Thailand attacks: reports

Dozens of opposition members have been arrested in Niger suspected of plotting a "military coup" in the west African nation, Interior Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said today.
	Close to 40 allies of parliament speaker Hama Amadou were detained this week for allegedly planning "a campaign of terror", Massaoudou told AFP, charging that some were found with petrol bombs in their possession.
	"They have been calling for violence for months," he said. "Our action is against people whose goal is to destroy democratic institutions."
	There has been a series of attacks in recent days between competing parties in the capital Niamey.
	The arrests follow a gun attack on the home of a ruling party lawmaker earlier this week and a petrol bomb attack on the party's headquarters in which three people were injured, one severely.
	No one was injured in the attack on the lawmaker's home and two men were arrested in connection with the bomb attack, police said in a statement.
	Earlier this week, police ..

Dozens arrested in Niger for plotting 'military coup':minister

British actor Timothy Spall claimed the best actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival today for his role in a lush historical portrait of painter JMW Turner, by director Mike Leigh.
	"Mr Turner" stars the 57-year-old Spall, credited with blazing a trail for modern art of the time, in a grunting, snorting, spitting, womanising, warts-and-all performance that critics hailed as riveting.
	"I am trying to hold back my tears," an emotional Spall told the audience after receiving the prize, lauding his decades of collaboration with Leigh.
	One of Britain's best-regarded character actors, and better known abroad for a recurring role in the "Harry Potter" movies, Spall is credited with a gift for invoking empathy with otherwise unlovable protagonists.
	For his role as Turner, Spall practised painting for two years before starting to film with Leigh and said his extensive research revealed the British artist to be "a man of mystery".

Britain's Timothy Spall wins best actor at Cannes

Pope Francis called for fresh peace talks on Syria today, urging all sides to swap arms for negotiations, and asked the international community to aid those fleeing the bloodshed.
	"May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues by the use of arms and return to negotiations," he said as he met Syrian refugees in Jordan on the first day of a lightening trip to the Middle East.
	The pontiff said the three-year civil war would only be brought to an end "through dialogue and restraint... Through the search for a political solution."
	The 77-year-old, famed for his ceaseless dedication to the world's downtrodden, called on the world to assist Jordan in giving safe haven to the refugees, around 6,00,000 of whom have sought shelter in the kingdom.
	"I urge the international community not to leave Jordan alone in the task of meeting the humanitarian emergency caused by the arrival of so great a number of refugees," he said.
	In an unscripted message at the end of his speech, Francis ...

Pope calls for return to Syria peace talks

Julianne Moore won the best actress prize at the 67th Cannes Film Festival today for her role as a shallow starlet in Canadian director David Cronenberg's biting Hollywood satire "Maps to the Stars".
	In the film, the 53-year-old redhead plays an ageing actress feeling increasingly sidelined by an industry obsessed with youth.
	When the young son of a rival for new film role is killed in a freak drowning accident, Moore does a dance of joy that remained one of the enduring shocks of this year's festival.
	"Vive Los Angeles, Vive David Cronenberg, vive Julie Moore et vive la France," the film's screenwriter, Bruce Wagner, said as he picked up the trophy for Moore, who was not in Cannes.
	Moore has played everything from a porn star to an FBI agent over a two-decade big screen career that has already brought four Oscar nominations, two Golden Globes and a Primetime Emmy to her name.
	Her best-known films include 1998's "The Big Lebowski," "Crazy Stupid Love" (2011) as well as "The ...

Julianne Moore wins best actress at Cannes

"We're in a war situation," says one of the deliverymen bringing ballot papers in under armed guard to a polling station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Dobropillya.
	"There is more security this time," he adds.
	Ukraine goes to the polls tomorrow to elect a new president, but pro-Russian separatists have threatened to disrupt the vote in towns and cities they control in the industrial east.
	"We intend to make sure that voting does not take place here on our territory. If necessary we will revert to the use of force," said Denis Pushilin, a top leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.
	"We have the right to do so because our countrymen are dying here every day," he told reporters.
	The Kiev authorities have warned they may not be able to ensure voting takes place across the east, where there are already numerous reports of militants intimidating election workers and seizing polling stations.
	Security concerns have also been heightened after a deadly surge in violence .

'War situation' as rebels threaten vote in east Ukraine

Three people were killed and one badly injured when a gunman attacked the Jewish Museum in the centre of Brussels today, authorities said.
	"Two women and one man are dead, a third person is in hospital," Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said at the scene. "We don't yet know if they were tourists or staff, they haven't been identified."
	Asked whether she believed it was an anti-Semitic attack, she said it was too early to say as a police and judicial inquiry was under way but that given the target "there are strong grounds for presuming so".
	A Jewish community figure, Joel Rubinfeld, told AFP it clearly "is a terrorist act" after two men were seen driving up and double-parking outside the museum.
	The gunman opened fire, allegedly shooting indiscriminately before getting away.
	Rubinfeld, who heads the country's anti-Semitic League, said the act was the result of "a climate of hate."
	Reports said the driver has been picked up within three hours of the shooting, which took place at .

Three dead in gunman attack on Brussels Jewish Museum

Renegade ex-general Khalifa Haftar today said the Libyan people have given him a "mandate" to crush jihadist militants in the country, a day after thousands rallied in his support in Benghazi and Tripoli.
	Haftar's campaign has won growing support amid frustration at the lawlessness in Libya three years after the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
	"We have accepted the mandate of the people," Haftar said in a statement.
	"The (people) have given their instructions ... We pledge not to abandon this mission until Libya is purged of terrorists and extremists and all those who back them," he added.
	The statement was released by Haftar's self-declared "supreme military council" in the Benina region near the eastern city of Benghazi, where the rogue general launched his campaign this month.
	Thousands of demonstrators rallied in support of Haftar on Friday in the capital Tripoli and in Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 uprising against Kadhafi and hotbed of an Islamist militancy ...

Libya ex-general says people mandated him to crush jihadists

Somalia's Shebab rebels launched a brazen attack on the national parliament today, setting off a car bomb and storming the building with suicide commandos, leaving at least ten dead, police and witnesses said.
	Security sources said the "complex attack" -- involving bombs and gunmen with suicide vests -- was finally brought to an end after more than four hours by Somali security forces and African Union troops.
	No overall death toll was immediately given but a police official and government source said 10 people, including several attackers, were confirmed dead.
	Local media reports said as many as 20 people may have been killed, including eight attackers.
	Witnesses said Shebab militants, the Al-Qaeda-linked group fighting to overthrow Somalia's internationally-backed but fragile government, stormed into the complex in central Mogadishu while scores of MPs were meeting inside.
	A huge car bomb went off outside the gates of the parliament shortly before midday, and a string of ...

Shebab commandos attack Somali parliament

Pakistan cricket authorities today demanded the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) explain what disciplinary measures have been taken against Stuart Broad after he made a twitter jibe about the legitimacy of spinner Saeed Ajmal's action.
     Subhan Ahmed, chief operating officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), said a letter had been sent seeking information on the situation.
	"Yes, we have written a letter to the ECB asking them what action they have taken against Broad for comments he has made against Ajmal," Ahmed told AFP.
	"These comments are distressing for Ajmal who is upset and wants the ECB to take action," he added.
	Ajmal's agent Umran Khan said he has also taken up the matter, requesting "clarification" on the issue in a formal letter to the cricket authorities for England and Wales.
	As an England centrally contracted player Broad can be penalised by the ECB if he is found to have made derogatory comments about his fellow professionals.
	Pakistan spinner Ajmal ...

AFP

AFP

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