Tunisian authorities were on Saturday stopping 75 migrants saved at sea from coming ashore, according to a rights group and the captain of the ship which rescued them.
The migrants were adrift in international waters in a boat with a broken engine when an Egyptian tug boat brought them aboard, the captain said on condition of anonymity.
After notifying authorities in Italy and Malta, the crew headed for the southern Tunisian port of Zarzis where authorities refused to allow the ship to dock.
"We're in a critical situation, we're nearly 100 on board and we don't have more than two days of supplies of water and food," the captain told AFP by phone.
Tunisian rights organisation FTDES said the regional governor demanded government support before accepting the migrants, following an increase in new arrivals from neighbouring Libya in recent months.
Tunisian authorities did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.
The crew of the tug boat rescued 64 Bangladeshis, nine Egyptians, one ...

Tunisia stops rescued migrants from coming ashore

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Mount Etna in southern Italy has burst into life, spitting molten lava high into the sky, though cloud cover Saturday ruined the view for those brave enough to venture up the flanks of Europe's highest volcano.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV) said there was "lively spattering" as fire and hot ash spewed high into the sky in an eruption which began Thursday and had slowed slightly by Saturday but still posed a risk to climbers.
The lava came from two eruptive fissures on the northeastern and south-southeastern sides of the New Southeast Crater.
The volcano on the island of Sicily previously erupted in December.
The latest lava show was not expected to pose any problems for nearby residential areas or for flights at the closest airport at Catania.

Italy's Mount Etna sparks into life

David Warner hit an unbeaten half-century on his official return to international cricket on Saturday as Australia romped to victory by seven wickets in their World Cup opener against Afghanistan.
The five-time champions bowled Afghanistan out for 207 in 38.2 overs on a warm day in Bristol and then made steady progress, reaching their target with more than 15 overs to spare, with Warner 89 not out.
The match was the first official Australian appearance in any format for Warner and former captain Steve Smith since the end of their year-long bans for ball-tampering.
The crowd booed the pair and two fans watched the game from a balcony dressed as sandpaper after the scandal last year in which Australia hatched a plot to use the material to alter the condition of the ball.
"It's good to be back and it's a good win for us," said man-of-thee-match Warner at the presentation ceremony.
"There were nerves getting back into the camp and getting back into the full intensity of training, but to ..

Cricket-WC-2019-AFG-AUS SCORES

A minute's silence will be held for Jose Antonio Reyes before the Champions League final after the former Arsenal, Real Madrid and Spain forward was killed in a car crash on Saturday. Reyes was 35.
Reyes shot to fame at Sevilla and secured a switch to Arsenal, where he was part of the unbeaten 'Invincibles' 2003-2004 Premier League winners, before spells at Real and Atletico Madrid.
UEFA announced they would hold a minute's silence in his honour ahead of the final in Madrid between Tottenham and Liverpool.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) also confirmed there would be a minute's silence held before all official Spanish league games this weekend.
But the RFEF said the seven Segunda Division games would be postponed, including Cadiz against Extremadura, the club Reyes had joined in January.
Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger signed Reyes on the back of Spain's Under-19's European championships win where he played alongside Fernando Torres and Andres Iniesta, and a dazzling series ..

Minute's silence to be held for Reyes before Champions League final

Egyptian football fans readied to cheer on national hero Mohamed Salah in Sunday's Champions League clash and tuck into food from a cart whose owner vows they'll "never eat alone".
A tribute to the Reds, the "Liverfuul" cart serves up hot dishes of "fuul" (fava beans) in Ain Shams, a working-class suburb of Cairo.
Mohamed Ahmed, 31, a DJ turned street food entrepreneur, came up with the idea with friend Mohamed al-Sayed before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of daytime fasting due to end next week.
The cart, which only operates between 11 pm and 3 am, is emblazoned with Sayed's red and green design - after the Liverpool football club logo.
Liverpool's legendary anthem has been amended on the cart to read: "You'll never eat alone."
"There's no one who doesn't love Salah. We're avid football fans so the idea clicked one day while we were sitting around, and the response has been huge from the locals," he told AFP.
"As Egyptians we like to get together, especially during ...

'You'll never eat alone': Football and fava on Egypt menu

Dimuth Karunaratne urged his Sri Lanka flops to stay positive after they were jeered by angry fans during Saturday's embarrassing 10-wicket loss to New Zealand in their opening match of the World Cup.
Sri Lanka crashed to 136 all out after being put into bat first in Cardiff and the Black Caps chased down the modest target in 16.1 overs.
Martin Guptill, hitting 73, and Colin Munro, scoring 58, hammered the runs after pacemen Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson claimed three wickets each against hapless Sri Lanka.
But skipper Karunaratne, who stood out with his unbeaten 52, said all is not lost as long as his players don't dwell on the defeat.
"I think we have another eight games to go. We need to (keep our) chin up and play very well," Karunaratne said in the post-match press conference.
"We need to see what we have. On the back end we need to get some partnerships, (and in) the middle part. Those are the key areas. We're looking forward to doing it."
The 1996 champions were on the ...

Karunaratne urges Sri Lanka to keep "chin up" after World Cup rout

The Taliban's leader said Saturday the insurgents will not call a ceasefire any time soon, even as a US envoy was heading to the region for a fresh round of peace talks.
In a rare and defiant message ahead of what would be the seventh round of recent negotiations, Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhundzada boasted foreign forces in Afghanistan are "condemned to defeat" -- but said the Islamist insurgents would continue talks with the US.
The Taliban's fight "and resistance against the occupation is nearing the stage of success, Allah willing," Akhundzada said in a message marking Eid, the upcoming festival at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
The insurgents, believing they have major leverage on the military front, have rejected widespread calls for a ceasefire.
"No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives," Akhundzada said.
Akhundzada has led the Islamist militants since his predecessor ..

Taliban leader says no ceasefire as US envoy heads to region

Mexico's president said Saturday he thinks US officials are prepared to negotiate on President Donald Trump's threat to use tariffs as a tool to fight illegal migration across the border.
"There is willingness on the part of US government officials to establish dialogue and reach agreements and compromises," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference.
He did not say what gave him reason to believe this.
Lopez Obrador said a Mexican delegation led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet Wednesday in Washington with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the surprise tariff announcement Trump made on Thursday.
The US president said tariffs starting at five percent and gradually increasing to 25 per cent will be applied to all Mexican imports beginning June 10, unless the Mexican government does more to halt the flow of undocumented migrants crossing into the US.
The Mexican government has already contacted Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and also an ...

Mexican president says confident that US will negotiate on tariffs

Afghanistan recovered from a disastrous start in their World Cup opener against defending champions Australia to post a brave total of 207 in Bristol on Saturday.
Gulbadin Naib, captain of the rank outsiders, took the bold decision to bat in warm conditions in the southwest of England, hoping to amass a score his spin bowlers could defend on the small ground.
But the decision backfired badly, with both openers departing for ducks as Afghanistan slipped to five for two in the second over and looked on course for a humiliation.
Mohammad Shahzad was bowled by Mitchell Starc in the opening over of the match and Hazratullah Zazai quickly followed, caught behind by wicket-keeper Alex Carey off Pat Cummins.
With their team in deep trouble, Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi led a fightback for the minnows, playing in only their second World Cup, putting on a gritty 51 for the third wicket.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa broke the partnership with a beautifully flighted delivery that brought ...

Afghanistan dig deep in World Cup clash against Australia

World number one Naomi Osaka's hopes of winning a third successive Grand Slam ended Saturday when she was knocked out of the French Open in the third round by unheralded Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Japanese top seed Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open champion, crashed to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to the 42nd-ranked Czech.
"Losing is probably the best thing that could have happened," said 21-year-old Osaka, the reigning Australian and US Open champion.
"I felt very tired. In the other matches I had headaches, maybe that's the stress.
"I felt there was a weight on me. This hasn't been the happiest of times."
Osaka's defeat left just four of the women's top 10 seeds in the tournament including three-time winner Serena Williams and defending champion Simona Halep.
Osaka was undone by a shocking 38 unforced errors as she finally ran out of luck in Paris having had to come back from a set down in her first two matches.
"I played my best tennis and I hope it continues," said ...

Osaka's Roland Garros dream shattered by Siniakova

Tens of thousands of LGBT South Koreans and their supporters paraded through central Seoul Saturday for the capital's 20th gay rights march, with ruling Democratic Party members taking part for the first time.
The parade, some 70,000 strong according to organisers, made its way through the South Korean capital with participants dancing on open truck beds and waving rainbow flags.
"People who used to be invisible are here to show that they exist," said Jeong Min-hee, a 26-year-old participant.
"It's so much fun, I'm very excited and it feels so good to be in solidarity with others."
South Korea is Asia's fourth biggest economy and a capitalist democracy, but lived through decades of military rule when evangelical Christianity was widespread and framed the communist North as evil.
Christian churches still have enduring political influence in the South, and they are now targeting sexual minorities, activists say.
"The conservative Christians consider both -- communists and sexual ...

South Korea's pride parade marks 20 years in blaze of colour

New Zealand made a flying start to their World Cup campaign as paceman Matt Henry struck three times in a 10-wicket trashing of woeful Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Henry returned figures of 3-29 and combined with fellow paceman Lockie Ferguson, who also took three wickets, to bowl out Sri Lanka for just 136 in 29.2 overs in Cardiff.
Martin Guptill and Colin Munro then hit unbeaten half-centuries to make short work of their modest target.
The Kiwis cruised home in 16.1 overs to register their third win in a World Cup game by 10 wickets.
The right-left batting combination of Guptill, who hit 73, and Munro, who scored 58, had little trouble in smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground.  Guptill hammered eight fours and two sixes including one hit that sailed out of the ground.
But it was Henry's spell of seven straight overs that opened the gates for New Zealand's domination against the 1996 champions.
"It's a great start for us. You want a balanced attack going into any ...

Henry shines as New Zealand thrash Sri Lanka in World Cup

The State Department is suspending funding for a taxpayer-funded Twitter account on Iran that sharply attacked critics of President Donald Trump's hawkish policy, an official said Saturday.
The Iran Disinformation Project was set up late last year with a stated mission to expose the "nefarious influence" of the clerical regime in Tehran, including by tackling its "social media manipulation."
The account, in English, Farsi and occasionally Arabic, is funded by the State Department's Global Engagement Center, which is in charge of countering foreign propaganda.
To its modest number of Twitter followers, which stood at just over 2,700 on Saturday, @IranDisinfo offers a narrative in line with the Trump administration, highlighting human rights concerns in Iran, attacking its leaders across the spectrum and using the hashtag #40YearsOfFailure to describe the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew the pro-US shah.
But some of the many US-based critics of the Trump ...

US suspends funding for Iran Twitter account that trolled critics

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur has insisted they can bounce back from a "shocking" start to the World Cup.
Hostile fast bowling by the West Indies saw Pakistan slump to just 105 -- their second-lowest World Cup total -- in a mere 21.4 overs at Trent Bridge on Friday.
The West Indies, two-time former champions, then polished off the meagre target in 13.4 overs on the back of dashing opener Chris Gayle's 34-ball 50 which included six fours and three sixes.
Arthur did not hide from the scale of a seven-wicket defeat, saying it had gone against everything he had seen from his players in the build-up.
"Yes, it was a shocking start -- the players did not take the preparations into the the middle," Arthur told AFP. "But we will dust ourselves off and come back strong." Pakistan's batsmen were undone by the short-pitched bowling of the West Indies pace trio.
Oshane Thomas led the way with four for 27, while captain Jason Holder (three for 42) and Andre Russell (two for four) also made telling ..

Arthur promises Pakistan will bounce back after 'shocking' World Cup start

A blast at a major explosives plant in central Russia Saturday injured 42 people and damaged nearly 200 buildings nearby, said local officials, Russian news agencies reported.
The explosion happened at the "Kristall" factory in Dzerzhinsk about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Moscow, in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
A local health ministry official quoted by the TASS news agency said 42 people had suffered light or moderate injuries, an increase on earlier estimate.
Of the injured, 14 had to be hospitalised, but no one had been killed, said the spokesman.
Earlier, health ministry officials told news agencies that the wounded had "shrapnel wounds of mild and moderate severity" and that they were receiving medical assistance.
The force of the blast damaged five factory buildings and 180 houses nearby.
The deputy governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Dmitry Krasnov, told Russian state television that two people were missing.
Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened an ...

Blast at Russian explosives plant injures 42

The US envoy negotiating with the Taliban will hold new talks this month with the insurgents in Qatar, the State Department said Saturday, as momentum builds for a deal to end America's longest war.
Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran US policymaker who is leading President Donald Trump's push to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, left Friday on a 17-day trip that will also take him to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said.
In Doha, he will resume talks with the Taliban after a break of around a month "to move the peace process forward," the State Department said in a statement.
Khalilzad has already met six times with the Taliban in recent months as he looks to seal a deal under which the United States will pull out troops who were first deployed following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The United States and the Taliban are believed to have largely agreed on the key demand of Washington from 2001 and again now -- that the Taliban .

US heads to new talks with Taliban

Thousands of English football fans draped in their team's colours gathered in Madrid ahead of Saturday's Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham, many still desperately seeking tickets for the match.
In the central Sol square several men held up handmade signs reading "Buy tickets" as chanting supporters from both sides walked past, many carrying beers, with temperatures already approaching 30 degrees centigrade.
Among them was Kemam Kalkavar, a Turkish engineer and lifelong Liverpool fan who flew from Ankara with a group of friends for the match and was willing to pay 5,000 euros ($5,575) for a ticket.
"Watching from inside the stadium is much more exciting. It's worth it," the 50-year-old told AFP.
Spanish police on Friday arrested a Venezuelan woman at Sol square who sold two fake tickets to a Romanian national for 4,200 euros per ticket, a police spokesman said.
The authorities expect around 32,000 ticket-holding fans from both teams will attend the match at the ...

English fans swarm Madrid ahead of Champions League final

New Zealand paceman Matt Henry led an inspired bowling unit to run through Sri Lanka's batting and power the Black Caps to a 10-wicket win in their World Cup opener on Saturday.
Henry returned figures of 3-29 and combined with fellow paceman Lockie Ferguson who also took three wickets to bowl out Sri Lanka for 136 in 29.2 overs in Cardiff.
Martin Guptill and Colin Munro then struck unbeaten half-centuries to make short work of their modest target. The Kiwis cruised home in 16.1 overs to register their third win in a World Cup game by 10 wickets.
The right-left batting combination of Guptill, who hit 73, and Munro, who scored 58, had little trouble in smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground.  Guptill hammered eight fours and two sixes including one hit that sailed out of the ground.
But it was Henry's spell of seven straight overs that opened the gates for New Zealand's domination against the 1996 champions.
Henry stood out in the absence of senior paceman Tim ...

New Zealand thrash Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in World Cup

Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas turned up the heat at Roland Garros on Saturday, booking their places in the last 16, as headline acts Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams waited to join them.
German fifth seed Zverev needed another five-setter to reach the fourth round, defeating Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 1-6, 6-2.
Zverev, whose best run at a Slam came in Paris last year when he made the quarter-finals, will face Italy's Fabio Fognini for a place in the last-eight.
Zverev, 22, had also needed five sets to defeat Australia's John Millman in the first round.
On Saturday, he hit 18 aces and 52 winners past 30th seed Lajovic, the runner-up to Fognini on Monte Carlo clay in April.
Fognini needed four sets to defeat Spanish 18th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
The 32-year-old Fognini trails Zverev 2-1 in head-to-head meetings but crucially won their most recent meeting in Monte Carlo.
Crowd favourite Tsitsipas became the first Greek ...

Zverev, Tsitsipas into last 16 at sweltering Roland Garros

A 5.3-magnitude quake in southeast Albania Saturday injured four people and damaged houses, local officials said.
Media reports said four people were hurt in Floq, 15 kilometres southeast of the city of Korca, which lies 180 kilometres southeast of the capital Tirana.
Officials in Korca said the quake had damaged around 60 houses.
According to Albania's Institute of Geosciences, it struck at 6:26 am (0426 GMT) and was followed by seven weaker aftershocks.

AFP

AFP

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