30 migrants found dead as refugee boats arrive in Italy

ROME: The deaths of 30 boat migrants sparked anger and frustration in Italy on Monday, as critics accused the government of failing to deal with an immigration crisis which has seen over 5,000 people rescued in the last 24 hours.

Rescuers had found the bodies stuffed into the hold of a fishing boat from north Africa when they boarded the vessel to help the most vulnerable of almost 600 migrants in the vessel.

A navy doctor said the migrants had "likely suffocated" in the tiny space, and "advised against removing the bodies" as it was not yet clear whether there were poisonous gases in the hold which might affect others.

"Another 30 dead in a boat. Another 30 deaths on the consciences of those who defend Mare Lorum," said Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigration Northern League party, in an ironic reference to the country's "Mare Nostrum" ("Our Sea") operation to rescue boat immigrants.

The League has warned Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government that plucking asylum seekers and immigrants to safety from their rickety boats only encourages more people to set out across the Mediterranean for Europe.

"Renzi and Alfano's shirts are soaked in blood. Stop the departures, help them in their own countries, immediately!" he said in a post on Facebook, pointing the finger not only at the centre-left leader but also at Angelino Alfano, Italy's interior minister.

Maurizio Gasparri, the Senate leader of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, blasted Renzi's "demented" navy operation and the "thousands of landings, deaths, tragedy, chaos. We cannot go on like this."

In a statement, the navy said some of the 30 migrants may have drowned rather than suffocated, though it would not confirm whether there was water in the hold or how much.

'We cannot face this emergency alone'

It is not the first time Italian rescuers have found migrants dead on the overcrowded boats but never before was there such a large number.

The boat is being towed by the Italian navy and is expected to arrive Tuesday in Pozzallo on the southeast coast of Sicily.

"We cannot face this emergency alone," Luigi Ammatuna, the mayor of Pozzallo, told ANSA news agency.

"The only two refrigerated rooms in the cemetery are occupied by the bodies of migrants. Where will we put the 30 victims of this atrocious tragedy?"

He said it was "impossible to take in the 900 or so migrants who are about to arrive" because "the reception centres in the area are full".

Three military ships carrying over 1,000 migrants each are expected to arrive in ports in southern Italy later Monday and Tuesday, the navy said.

Coast guard vessels and cargo ships carrying hundreds of others are set to arrive in Sicily, bringing the number rescued over the weekend to almost 5.500.

The number of migrant arrivals has now soared past the record 63,000 set in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings.

Italy has long borne the brunt of refugees making the perilous crossing from north Africa to Europe, but EU border agency Frontex says there has been a significant rise in numbers in recent months.

A series of tragedies has struck in the last few weeks, with ten people drowning and 39 having to be rescued after their boat sank off the Libyan coast earlier in June.

"No-one can dream that these deaths will end while the journeys continue. They are journeys of hope, but increasingly end up as journeys of death," the archbishop of Agrigento in Sicily, Francesco Montenegro, told Radio Vatican.

Alfano has called for the rescue operation to become a European initiative amid reports of thousands of migrants waiting in Libya to make the trip during the next few weeks.

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Russian sailors in France for warship training

SAINT-NAZAIRE, France: A Russian naval ship carrying 400 sailors has docked at a French harbor to start weeks of training aboard a warship France is selling to Russia despite widespread criticism from its allies.

The warship is part of a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) deal that marked the biggest sale ever of Nato weaponry to Moscow, raising questions both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011.

Despite French condemnation of Russian actions in Ukraine — and pressure from the United States — the deal is going forward as planned.

The sailors docked on Monday near the warship Vladivostock, which the French will teach them to operate in coming weeks.

France says the ship can carry 700 troops, 16 helicopter gunships, and as many as 50 armored vehicles.

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Heavy rebel infighting near Iraq: Syria activists

BEIRUT: Syrian activists say heavy clashes are underway between several rebel factions and an al-Qaida breakaway group over control of a border crossing with Iraq.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Monday's fighting between rebel groups and rivals in ISIS is concentrated in the town of Boukamal on the border between Syria and Iraq.

The jihadist group, which on Sunday declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate, controls much of northeastern Syria. In Iraq, it has recently captured cities and towns as well as border crossings, effectively erasing the frontier.

The group says its Islamic state stretches from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala northeast of Baghdad, and has called on all Muslims worldwide to pledge allegiance to it.

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Israel strikes Gaza militant sites

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said that it has carried out air strikes on rocket launchers and militant sites in the Gaza Strip, following rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

The military said it targeted nine sites in Gaza early on Sunday, including concealed rocket launchers, weapons manufacturing sites and what it called "terror activity" sites.

The previous evening, six rockets from Gaza struck Israel. Two of the rockets hit a factory in the town of Sderot, setting it ablaze.

There has been an increase in rocket fire toward Israel this month, with over 60 rockets launched from Gaza.

The increased rocket fire comes as the army continues to carry out a wide-ranging operation against the Hamas in the West Bank and searches for three Israeli teens who Israel says were abducted by the Palestinian militant group.

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ISIS crucifies 9 men in Syria's Aleppo: NGO

BEIRUT: A jihadist group in Syria has publicly executed and crucified nine men, eight of them rebels fighting both President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the jihadists, a monitor said on Sunday.

The report comes amid fierce clashes on the outskirts of Damascus between the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which is spearheading a major offensive in Iraq, and rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"ISIS executed eight men in Deir Hafer in the east of Aleppo province" on Saturday because they belonged to rebel groups that had fought against the jihadists as well as Assad's forces, it said.

ISIS then "crucified them in the main square of the village, where their bodies will remain for three days", the Britain-based monitor said.

Also in Aleppo province, a ninth man was executed and crucified in Al-Bab town near the border with Turkey.

ISIS first emerged in Syria's war in late spring last year and was initially welcomed by some Syrian rebels who believed its combat experience would help topple Assad.

READ ALSO: Al-Qaida merges with ISIS at Syria-Iraq border town: NGO

But subsequent jihadist abuses quickly turned the Syrian opposition, including Islamists, against ISIS.

Rebels launched a major anti-ISIS offensive in January 2014, and have pushed them out of large swathes of Aleppo province and all of Idlib in the northwest.

However, ISIS remains firmly rooted in Raqa, its northern Syrian headquarters, and wields significant power in Deir Ezzor in the east near the border with Iraq

This file photo shows fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) marching in Raqqa, Syria. (AP Photo)

Activists say the group's Iraq offensive and capture of heavy weapons — some of them US-made — appears to have boosted its confidence in Syria.

East of Damascus, "fierce clashes broke out early Sunday between rebels from the Army of Islam and ISIS near the town of Hammuriyeh", the Observatory said.

The Army of Islam is a major component of the Islamic Front, Syria's largest rebel coalition which has been fighting ISIS for months, but such fighting in Damascus province is unprecedented.

Regime soldiers and warplanes backed by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah also pounded rebel positions near the capital with rockets and surface-to-surface missiles, said the Local Coordination Committees activist network.

Syria's war began as a peaceful protest movement in March 2011 demanding political change, but became an armed insurgency when Assad's regime unleashed a brutal crackdown.

Many months into the fighting, jihadists began to flock to Syria where upwards of 162,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in more than three years of conflict.

READ ALSO: Who are ISIS? The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

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Pope leads long Vatican Mass after health setbacks

VATICAN CITY: Looking tired but relaxed, Pope Francis has led his first major public ceremony after a spate of cancelled appointments for health problems.

Francis appeared to hold up well Sunday during the more than 90-minute Mass in St Peter's Basilica to honour Saints Peter and Paul.

The Vatican has played down the cancellations, including one last-minute Friday because 77-year-old Francis had an unspecified "mild" health problem.

Francis, often laughing or smiling, chatted with each of the 24 archbishops kneeling before him to receive a white woollen band symbolizing shared episcopal power.

An hour after the ceremony, he appeared to people in St. Peter's Square from an Apostolic Palace window. He appealed for Iraq's leaders to use dialogue to save national unity and avoid further warfare there.

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Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova sign accord with EU

BRUSSELS: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the signing of an association accord with the EU on Friday marked a "historic day" that offered his ex-Soviet country a fresh start after years of political instability.

The accord, which will seal closer political and economic ties with the European Union, offered "an absolutely new perspective for my country," Poroshenko said as he arrived for the signing ceremony in Brussels.

"It is a historic day, the most important day since independence" from Moscow in 1991, Poroshenko said.

Ukraine will use "the opportunity to modernize", he said, stressing on the importance of peace and security for its future and that of the region.

The accord was a "demonstration of EU solidarity," he added.

EU leaders will sign association accords with Ukraine plus Georgia and Moldova at 0700 GMT, marking a decisive turn to the West for the three former Soviet republics.

The last-minute ditching of the association accord by Ukraine's pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in November sparked demonstrations that eventually led to his ouster by pro-EU forces in February.

That in turn led to an angry Russia annexing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, plunging the West's relations with the Kremlin to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War.

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Iraqi militants executed 160 captives: Report

LONDON: Analysis of photographs and satellite images of mass graves by Human Rights Watch has confirmed that militants in Iraq massacred at least 160 captives in the northern city of Tikrit.

HRW said that between 160 and 190 men were killed in at least two locations in and around Tikrit — the hometown of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein — between June 11 and 14.

HRW says the number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation.

On June 12, ISIS claimed to have executed 1,700 "Shi'a members of the army" in Tikrit. Two days later, it posted to a website photographs with groups of apparently executed men.

On June 22, Iraq's human rights minister announced that ISIS had executed 175 Iraqi Air Force recruits in Tikrit.

"The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of HRW.

"ISIS apparently executed at the very least 160 people in Tikrit".

On June 14, ISIS posted roughly 60 photographs, some of which show masked ISIS fighters loading captives in civilian clothes onto trucks and forcing them to lie in three shallow trenches with their hands bound behind their backs.

Some of the images show masked gunmen pointing and firing their weapons at these men.

By comparing ground features and landmarks in the photographs released by ISIS, Human Rights Watch established that two of the trenches were at the same location. By comparing these photographs with satellite imagery from 2013 and publicly available photographs from Tikrit taken earlier, Human Rights Watch located the site in a field about 100 meters north of the Water Palace in Tikrit - a former palace of Saddam Hussein next to the Tigris River.

The location of the third trench has not been identified.

Human Rights Watch also reviewed satellite imagery of the area recorded on the morning of June 16. The imagery does not reveal evidence of bodies at the site with the two trenches, but does show indications of recent vehicle activity and surface movement of earth that is consistent with the two shallow trenches visible in the ISIS photos. Without visiting the site it is impossible to know if bodies are buried there or were moved.

Based on a count of the bodies visible in the available photographs, Human Rights Watch estimates that ISIS killed between 90 and 110 men in the first trench and between 35 and 40 men in the second.

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3 facts about Ukraine’s accord with EU

BRUSSELS: After months of upheaval, Ukraine signed a broad political and trade accord with the European Union on Friday, making a historic shift away from Russia and closer to the West.

The signing is a victory for pro-EU Ukrainians who drove Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovich from power after he abandoned the pact last year in favour of cash from Moscow. New President Petro Poroshenko hopes to bind the nation of 45 million to the European Union via the accord.

The victory was hard-won: It led to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and to attempts by pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine to break away and join Russia.

Ukraine also incurred considerable costs when it lost Crimea. One government minister estimated the country had lost resources worth $10 billion.

The association agreement with the EU may help offset some of those costs. It falls short of EU membership, but should tie Kiev economically into the 28-nation European Union. It could offer Ukraine a route to the kind of stability and prosperity that neighbouring Poland has achieved.

What is an EU association agreement?

The agreements are the EU's way of extending influence to its neighbours without offering actual membership. Moldova and Georgia are also signing on Friday.

The agreements gradually liberalize trade with partners, meaning countries end up with unfettered access to the 28-nation bloc's 500 million consumers — the world's largest and wealthiest single market.

The EU also provides technical help and funds to help countries adapt to its regulations and allow businesses to bid for lucrative EU public works contracts.

In return, the EU requires that countries meet its standards on human rights and democracy, fight corruption, strengthens the rule of law and reforms its economy.

What benefits does it bring?

If properly implemented, the association agreements will help provide Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia with a path towards economic modernization, higher living standards and a stronger democracy.

Ukrainian exporters will save almost 500 million euros ($685 million) a year because they no longer have to pay customs duties, the EU says. Overall, Ukrainian exports to the EU are expected to increase by 1 billion euros a year, including greater sales of textiles, metals and food products.

In the long run, Ukraine's economic output could grow an additional 1 percent a year because of increased exports in goods and services, as well as more European investment in Ukraine, according to an EU study.

Under the accords, the EU will grant access to its market more quickly than Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. They will enjoy better access to the bloc than the EU will get in return in the first few years.

Brussels also hopes that by meeting EU standards for goods and services, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia will improve their chances of selling more goods internationally, beyond the EU.

What are the costs?

One reason that ousted Ukrainian president Yanukovich rejected the EU deal in November was because he said it would cost Kiev $500 billion in trade with Russia. Implementing EU standards would cost another $104 billion, he said.

The EU says Ukraine is still free to trade with Russia, and it will provide support and funds to help meet EU rules. However, by agreeing to the EU accord, Ukraine can no longer join Russia's customs union, because members Belarus and Kazakhstan are not members of the World Trade Organisation.

EU diplomats worry Moscow may take punitive action against Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in retaliation for siding with the European Union, an act of "commercial aggression".

That could involve Russia removing Ukraine's preferential treatment to its markets and implementing high tariffs, or at worst blocking goods at its border.

Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are also agreeing to considerable domestic reforms that will challenge entrenched interests among business and the political class.

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US says Russia has 'hours' to ease Ukraine crisis

PARIS: The United States warned Russia on Thursday it had only "hours" to prove it was helping disarm Ukrainian insurgents whose separatist drive has reopened a Cold War-style chasm in East-West ties.

US Secretary of State John Kerry's warning came a day before Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko signs the final chapters of an historic EU accord that nudges his country toward eventual membership and pulls it firmly out of Russia's reach.

Poroshenko also intends to get German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to join him for a second round of telephone diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin in two days.

Putin came under intense pressure from both European leaders and US President Barack Obama on Wednesday to rein in separatist fighters over whom he denies exerting control.

Obama said sweeping economic sanctions were imminent unless the Kremlin stopped "the flow of weapons and militants across the border".

US Secretary of State John Kerry was even more explicit in Paris on Thursday following talks with French counterpart Laurent Fabius.

"We are in full agreement that it is critical for Russia to show in the next hours, literally, that they're moving to help disarm the separatists, to encourage them to disarm, to call on them to lay down their weapons and to begin to become part of a legitimate process," Kerry said.

The State Department added that sanctions would be also discussed by EU leaders on Friday when they sign the full Association Agreement with Ukraine that was ditched by the ousted pro-Russian president in November and now lies at the heart of the raging crisis.

The punitive steps under deliberation would target Russia's financial and defence sectors at a time when its export-dependent economy is on the verge of slipping into another recession.

US media reports said one particularly painful step under consideration would prohibit the export of technology that could help Russia explore for oil and gas in the Arctic — a major ambition of powerful state-held energy firms.

But 11 weeks of fighting that has already claimed more than 435 lives and brought factories in Ukraine's economically vital eastern rustbelt to a virtual standstill continued today despite the ceasefire agreement.

A spokesman for Ukraine's "anti-terrorist operation" said 10 paratroopers were wounded in rebel attacks on government roadblocks on Thursday.

Ukrainian media reports said gunmen had also attacked a small airport overnight in the flashpoint village of Kramatorsk. (AFP)

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P5+1 making 'excessive demands' in N-talks: Iran

TEHRAN: Iran has offered "rational proposals" in nuclear negotiations but "excessive demands" of the P5+1 world powers are likely to prevent agreement by the July 20 deadline, Tehran's foreign minister said on Thursday.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are trying to secure a mammoth deal by next month to reduce in scope Iran's nuclear programme and ease fears the Islamic republic will get atomic weapons.

Iran denies seeking to make a bomb and wants punishing UN and Western sanctions lifted. Neither Israel nor the United States have ruled out military action to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

A difficult fifth round of talks ended in Vienna on Friday and the parties are due to meet again on July 2.

"Iran is ready for a resolution and made rational proposals," the official IRNA news agency quoted foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying.

"But the excessive demands of the other party could prevent an agreement," he added. "At that time the world will know who was responsible for the deadlock in the nuclear negotiations."

Zarif had on June 20 said Iran and world powers are yet to find common ground on the main issues in the nuclear talks.

"We feel there are still maximalist stances on the other side, which I think should be dropped," Zarif had said.

Officials on both sides said the drafting process had begun, but that haggling over language concerning the thorniest problems was being put off until later.

The negotiations can be extended by up to six months beyond July 20, when an interim deal struck in November expires, but for now both sides were still aiming to get a deal by that date.

Negotiators have said the main sticking points are the timetable for a full lifting of crippling US and European Union sanctions, and the scale to which Iran would be allowed to continue uranium enrichment.

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Pakistan army pounds main Taliban town

ISLAMABAD: After days of targeted air strikes on Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region of North Waziristan, ground troops moved into Miranshah town on Thursday as tanks and artillery pounded hideouts in the city.

The military has started clearing of built-up areas of the militants, said a security official on condition of anonymity.

The ground attack started at 6 pm and focused on the main Bazar area in Miranshah where the Pakistani Taliban has a strong presence.

The numbers of casualties was not known as yet. Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched on June 15 and the army is trying to mop up the major areas before start of the Muslim holy month of fasting next week.

According to the army, so far over 300 militants have been killed in the operation.

It has also displaced over 450,000 people who have taken up temporary residences in nearby towns of Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.

The presence of civilians had delayed the start of ground offensive but it seems that the critical stage of a full-fledged involvement of ground troops has started.

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Comedy on Kim Jong-un an ‘act of terror’: N Korea

SEOUL: On Wednesday, North Korea denounced a new Hollywood comedy about an assassination bid on leader Kim Jong-un as a "wanton act of terror" and warned of a "merciless response" unless the US authorities banned the film.

"The Interview" stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as two tabloid TV journalists who land an interview with Kim in Pyongyang and are then tasked by the CIA with killing him.

The film is due to be released in the United States on October 14.

In a statement carried by North Korea's official KCNA news agency, a foreign ministry spokesman said the film was the work of "gangster moviemakers" and should never be shown.

"The act of making and screening such a movie that portrays an attack on our top leadership ... is a most wanton act of terror and act of war, and is absolutely intolerable," the spokesman said.

In his statement, he called on the US administration to ban the film from being screened and warned that failure to do so would trigger a "resolute and merciless response".

It is not the first time Hollywood has poked fun at a North Korean leader.

In the 2004 satirical action comedy "Team America," Kim's father Kim Jong-Il was portrayed as a speech-impaired, isolated despot.

In the official trailer for "The Interview" a CIA officer calls North Korea the "most dangerous country on earth", and briefs the Rogen and Franco characters on the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family dynasty.

"Kim Jong-un's people believe everything he tells them, including that he can speak to dolphins, or that he doesn't urinate or defecate," the officer said.

Played by Korean-American actor Randall Park, Kim appears in the trailer as an overweight, cigar-chomping dictator, surrounded by security guards.

The scenes set in Pyongyang were filmed in Vancouver. In a recent interview with Yahoo Movies, Rogen, who co-wrote the script, said the idea for the film came out of a discussion over how journalists with access to world leaders might have the opportunity to act as assassins.

"We read as much as we could that was available on the subject ... We talked to people in the government whose job it is to associate with North Korea, or be experts on it," Rogen said.

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Russian chain delivers pizza by drone

MOSCOW: Flying pizza! A Russian pizza chain claims to have successfully carried out the first commercial delivery of pizzas via a drone.

DoDo Pizza's first unmanned delivery was made over the weekend in the northern Russian city Syktyvkar. The drone completed the order in just 30 minutes.

"Along with one Moscow-based company we have conducted the first in the world commercial delivery via drones. Until now many similar variants have been shown on videos, but we tried to deliver real pizza to real customers, and we succeeded," Fyodor Ovchinnikov, CEO of Dodo Pizza, told Itar-Tass news agency.

The drone is equipped with built-in global positioning system (GPS) and video cameras that are monitored by the restaurant's manager.

The manager gives customers a phone call at the time of delivery to ensure that pizza does not reach the wrong person.

As the customer steps outside to accept delivery, the pizza is lowered to him using a cable, 'RT News' reported.

The drone does not come lower than 20 meters above the ground, so that people could not steal it.

If someone tries to pull on the cable, the drone triggers an emergency anti-theft mechanism releasing the cable, and the drone will fly away.

Since drones are not equipped to accept cash or cards, orders are to be completed online or by phone and paid with a credit card at the time the order is placed.

The pizza-drone is able to deliver up to 5kg of weight at speeds of up to 40km/hr, according to the company CopterExpress that developed the chopper drone.

The service earned DoDo Pizza 3,500 rubles (about $100) on the first day of drone operation, the report said.

The company also posted a video online, showing the first airdrops of pizzas to customers and promised the service was not just a one-time PR stunt.

Ovchinnikov said drones will be delivering pizzas to several spots around Syktyvkar by the end of summer.

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Al-Qaida merges with ISIS at Syria-Iraq border town

BEIRUT: Al-Qaida's Syrian offshoot on Wednesday made an oath of loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant at a key town on the Iraqi border, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the merger is significant because it opens the way for ISIS to take control of both sides of the border at Albu Kamal in Syria and al-Qaim in Iraq, where the jihadist group has led a major offensive this month.

After months of clashes between the two sides, al-Qaida's official Syrian arm the al-Nusra Front "pledged loyalty to ISIS" in Albu Kamal, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The pledge comes amid advances by ISIS in Deir Ezzor province" in eastern Syria on the Iraqi border, Abdel Rahman told AFP.

An ISIS jihadist confirmed the reports on Twitter, and posted a photograph showing an Egyptian al-Nusra Front commander shaking hands with a ISIS leader of Chechen origin.

Iraqi soldiers patrol the Iraq-Syria border point, Albu Kamal.

Although both ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front are rooted in al-Qaida, the two have been rivals for much of the time that ISIS has been involved in Syria's civil war since spring last year.

"They are rivals, but both groups are jihadist and extremists. This move will create tension now with other rebel groups, including Islamists, in the area," said Abdel Rahman.

An activist in Albu Kamal told AFP via the Internet that "there is a lot of tension, and the situation is only going to get worse."

Using a pseudonym for security reasons, Hadi Salameh also said the merger "will cause a big problem with the local tribes, who will not welcome this change."

Another activist said the merger comes days after local rebel brigades who had been working with al-Nusra Front signed a declaration excluding the official al-Qaida branch from the Islamic court, which acts as the de facto power in many rebel areas of Syria.

"The loyalty oath (to ISIS) comes after tension between aAl-Nusra and the local rebels," said the activist, Abdel Salam al-Hussein.

Meanwhile, the Syrian air force carried out air raids targeting ISIS-controlled Raqa in the north of the country and Muhassen in the east.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime has rarely targeted ISIS bastions, except in recent days after the group and other Sunni militants launched an offensive in Iraq, wresting control of Mosul and other parts of Iraq.

ISIS aspires to create an Islamic state that straddles Iraq and Syria.

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Putin 'scraps' threat of force in Ukraine

MOSCOW: Russian news agencies say President Vladimir Putin has asked parliament to cancel a resolution sanctioning the use of military force in Ukraine.

Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Putin wrote to the head of Russia's upper house of parliament asking that his March 1 request for approval of the use of force be withdrawn, the agencies reported.

Putin issued the request to parliament after Ukraine's pro-Russian president was ousted in February following months of street protests. In March, Ukraine's Black Sea region of Crimea was annexed by Russia with the help of troops, which Putin later admitted were Russian army forces.

The move comes as rebel leaders of the pro-Russian insurgency in east Ukraine announced on Monday that that they would respect a cease-fire declared by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko last week, raising hopes for an end to months of fighting that killed hundreds.

The ceasefire appeared to be largely holding on Tuesday.

Vladislav Seleznev, a spokesman for Ukraine's operation in the east, said rebel forces attacked a Ukrainian base north of Slovyansk late Monday, but there had been no fighting overnight.

Some soldiers at a government-controlled checkpoint in Dovhenko, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the rebel stronghold of Slovyansk, were seen relaxing near the barricades on Tuesday, while others engaged in shooting drills nearby.

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Egypt's Sisi 'won't act' in Al Jazeera case

CAIRO: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday Egypt's authorities "will not interfere in judicial matters" a day after three Al-Jazeera journalists were jailed for between seven and 10 years.

The United States is leading calls for Sisi to pardon the journalists working for the Qatar-based network who were convicted on Monday of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement and "spreading false news".

Eleven defendants tried in absentia, including one Dutch journalist and two British journalists, were given 10-year sentences.

A presidency official told AFP that Sisi cannot legally pardon the journalists until a final court ruling after an appeal.

Sisi said on Tuesday he had called the justice minister to stress that the authorities "will not interfere in judicial matters".

Award-winning Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy each got seven-year terms in a Cairo court, while Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed received two sentences of seven and three years.

Monday's verdicts sparked an international outcry, with Australia saying it was "appalled" and US secretary of state John Kerry denouncing "a chilling and draconian sentence".

On Tuesday, Sisi said in a televised speech at a military graduation ceremony: "We have to respect judicial rulings and not comment on them even if others don't understand them."

Al-Jazeera says only nine of the 20 defendants are on its staff. Sixteen defendants in the trial are Egyptians who were accused of belonging to the Brotherhood, which the authorities designated a "terrorist organization" in December.

Foreign defendants were alleged to have collaborated with and assisted their Egyptian co-defendants by providing media material, as well as editing and broadcasting it.

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Slain Monaco heiress's daughter arrested: Report

MARSEILLE: French police investigating the shooting of a 77-year-old heiress from one of Monaco's richest families have arrested around 20 people, including her daughter and son-in-law, sources close to the probe said on Monday.

The heiress, Helene Pastor, died last month from multiple wounds to the abdomen, neck and face after she was shot as she was leaving a hospital in the French Riviera city of Nice.

Her chauffeur, Mohammed Darwich, 64, also died from injuries sustained in the attack.

The arrests were made in Nice, the southern city of Marseille and Rennes, in the west of France, according to several sources.

The Paris-based lawyer for the Pastor family made no immediate comment on the arrests.

The daughter, Sylvia Pastor, is married to Wojciech Janowski, the honorary consul of Poland in Monaco.

The attacker used a sawn-off shotgun and fired several shots before making off with an accomplice.

Pastor had inherited a huge real estate and construction business set up by her Italian grandfather Jean-Baptiste Pastor, a stone mason who came to Monaco in 1880.

As the sleepy principality in the French Riviera slowly grew into a playground for the world's rich and famous, the family fortunes skyrocketed.

But the real jackpot came in 1966 when Prince Rainier, whose fairytale wedding to Hollywood goddess Grace Kelly helped catapult Monaco to international fame, gave permission to Helene Pastor's father Gildo to build high-rise buildings along the seafront.

After the shooting, French prosecutors opened a judicial investigation into attempted murder but investigators have had few leads thus far.

Police had previously arrested a man who called the Pastor family several times after the shooting, claiming to know the identity of the mastermind and offering to divulge the information in exchange for cash.

A court has ordered that he undergo psychiatric tests.

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'Kenya hits al-Shabaab bases in Somalia, 80 killed'

MOGADISHU: Kenyan fighter jets have attacked two bases belonging to Islamist al-Shabaab insurgents in Somalia and killed at least 80 militants, African Union peacekeepers there said on Monday.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), whose soldiers launched a new offensive against al-Shabaab this year, said Kenyan planes carried out the raids on Anole and Kuday in the southern Lower Jubba region. It did not say when they took place.

"The air strikes in Anole left more than 30 al-Shabaab fighters dead, three technical vehicles and one Land Cruiser loaded with ammunition destroyed," AMISOM said. More than 50 rebels were killed in the Kuday raid, it added.

Kenya first sent its troops into neighbouring Somalia in 2011 after several attacks inside its territory that it blamed on al-Shabaab, and later joined the peacekeeping force.

The militants have since carried out a string of assaults to punish Kenya for its intervention. Al-Shabaab fighters killed at least 67 people in a raid on a Nairobi shopping mall last year.

AMISOM said alShabaab had lost control of more than 10 major towns in the new push by African troops, including soldiers from Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Burundi and Sierra Leone.

"AMISOM continues to up the pressure on al-Shabaab with a view to liberating more areas in forthcoming operations," the force said.

Officials and diplomats have said towns cleared of al-Shabaab are in a dire state, with food stocks emptied and largely abandoned by their inhabitants, creating what one envoy described as "ghost towns".

They say al-Shabaab still controls tracts of countryside, making it difficult for supplies to be moved to the towns.

Somalia's government is struggling to impose order since the AU peacekeepers, backed by Somali troops, drove al-Shabaab out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011.

More than two decades of conflict have left Somalia in ruins, while al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab has continued guerrilla-style attacks and suicide bombings.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for last week's attack on the Kenyan coastal town of Mpeketoni that killed about 65 people, although Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed al-Shabaab's account and said local politicians were behind it.

In a separate incident, an al-Shabaab spokesman said the group had attacked Kenyan troops near the border with Kenya on Monday morning and had burned four trucks, killing those inside.

Kenya's defence forces denied there was any such fight.

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Syrian rebels sending children into war: Report

BEIRUT: Militant Islamist groups in Syria are recruiting children as young as 15 and sending them into battle after promising them a free education, a Human Rights Watch report said on Monday.

The report said that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has made rapid territorial gains across the border in Iraq, had given children weapons training in Syria and told them to carry out suicide bombings.

Citing personal accounts, the rights group also found evidence of children being mobilized by the more moderate western-backed Free Syrian Army, the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, the Islamic Front coalition, and security forces in Kurdish-controlled areas.

"The horrors of Syria's armed conflict are only made worse by throwing children into the front lines," Priyanka Motaparthy, the author of the report which drew on the accounts of 25 children, said. It said 14-year-old youths had been used in support roles for the fighting.

Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group, said on Sunday that relatives of kidnapped students in Syria fear that ISIL will use the children to carry out car bombs or suicide attacks.

Syria's conflict started with peaceful demonstrations for political change in 2011 but has descended into a civil war, pitting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad against a myriad of opposition groups.

Infighting among opposition combatants has complicated the conflict, which has stirred sectarian tensions across the Middle East and spilled over into neighbouring countries.

HRW said the number of children fighting in Syria was not known. The Violations Documenting Center, a Syrian monitoring group, had documented 194 deaths of "non-civilian" male children in the country since September 2011, the report said.

"Allah chose you"

The children said they had fought in battles, acted as snipers, manned checkpoints, treated the wounded on battlefields, and brought supplies to front lines, the report said.

A 16-year-old boy who gave his name as Majed said the Nusra Front recruited him and other boys in the southern city of Deraa near the Jordanian border.

The group provided free schooling at a local mosque that included military training and commanders had asked children as well as adults to carry out suicide attacks, he said.

"Sometimes the commanders would say, "Allah chose you," and sometimes the fighters volunteered," Majed said, according to the report.

Many children followed their relatives or friends into the armed groups, while others lived in battle zones without schooling or other options, HRW said. Others had taken part in protests or were angry with the government.

All of the 25 interviewed were boys, but the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) police force and its armed wing had enlisted girls to guard checkpoints and conduct armed patrols in Kurdish-controlled areas, the report said.

Human Rights Watch said some armed groups had taken steps to end the use of children in the conflict. The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition said it was examining the allegations.

"We take such allegations extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring that anyone responsible for the voluntary or involuntary recruitment of children is held to account," it told Human Rights Watch in a letter.

The Islamic Front, a coalition of several rebel factions, told HRW it had investigated the accounts and found no evidence that its fighters included children.

"We never arm a young man, or give him the opportunity to join the Front, including the Ahrar Al-Sham Islamic movement, except after a thorough check of his documents, to ascertain he's over 18," it told HRW.

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Sudan to release woman on death row for apostasy

KHARTOUM: A Sudanese court on Monday ordered the release of a 27-year-old woman who was sentenced to death last month for converting from Islam to Christianity, the state news agency said.

The case of Meriam Ibrahim, who is married to a Christian American, triggered an international outcry. Britain had last month summoned the Sudanese charge d'affaires in protest at the sentencing.

"The appeal court ordered the release of Meriam Ibrahim and the cancellation of the (previous) court ruling," Sudan's SUNA news agency said. A government official had told Reuters on May 31 that Sudanese officials were working to release Ibrahim.

Ibrahim's lawyer Mohaned Mostafa said she has already been released and sent "to an unknown house to stay at for her protection and security".

"Her family had been threatened before and we are worried that someone might try to harm her," Mostafa told Reuters.

Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes for what it deemed her adultery for marrying a Christian. She gave birth in prison to a daughter, her second child by her American husband Daniel Wani.

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Polish minister says US ties worthless: Report

WARSAW, Poland: A Polish magazine on Sunday said that it has obtained recordings of a conversation in which foreign minister Radek Sikorski says that the country's strong alliance with the US "isn't worth anything" and is "even harmful because it creates a false sense of security".

In a short transcript of the conversation, a person identified as Sikorski by the magazine Wprost tells former finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, that Poles naively believe that the US bolsters their security. Using vulgar language, the person argues that such beliefs are nonsense, and that the Polish-US alliance alienates Russians and Germans.

There has been no official confirmation that it is Sikorski who speaks in the conversation.

Wprost, last week, set off a political storm in Poland with the release of a recording of a conversation between central bank head Marek Belka and interior minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz. In the recording, the two discussed how the bank could help the governing party win re-election in 2015, an apparent violation of the bank's independence.

That publication has already threatened to bring down the government of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and the new recording is expected to add to the troubles. Although the latest conversation doesn't reveal any illegal actions, the strong language and opinions would likely put the foreign minister on the defensive if they are confirmed to be true.

Sikorski has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and has strongly criticized Russian actions in Ukraine this year. In the past he was a strong supporter of the United States, though he has become more critical of Washington in recent years.

He has also been widely mentioned as a possible successor to Catherine Ashton as the EU's foreign policy chief. Poland officially put him forward as a candidate last month.

The government will make a comment after the recording is published in full, spokeswoman Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska said.

Wprost said it will publish the sound files of the recording Monday or Tuesday.

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Kerry in Cairo for talks with Egypt's new president

CAIRO: US secretary of state John Kerry arrived in Cairo on Sunday for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over Egypt's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and the threat which the conflict in Iraq poses to the Middle East.

Kerry is the highest-ranking US official to visit Egypt since Sisi, the former military leader who toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi after mass protests last year, won a May presidential election.

His visit comes a day after an Egyptian court confirmed death sentences against 183 members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, including its leader Mohamed Badie, in a mass trial on charges of violence in which one policeman was killed.

The United States has said it looks forward to working with Sisi's government but also expressed concerns over widespread human rights abuses and limits on freedom of expression.

"We have serious concerns about the political environment," said a senior State Department official who briefed reporters en route to Cairo.

Still, the official said there had been "a few flickering signs of positive movement" in recent weeks. Among these was the release of an Al-Jazeera journalist, steps to start addressing sexual violence against women and Sisi's call during his first cabinet meeting for the revision of the human rights law.

The United States, which has counted on Egypt as a close Middle East ally for decades following its 1979 peace treaty with US ally Israel, froze some of the $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt following Morsi's overthrow.

About $575 million in suspended funds have been released over the past 10 days and will be used to pay existing defence contracts, the State Department official said.

Washington has also said it will provide 10 Apache attack helicopters to help soldiers battling burgeoning militancy in the Sinai peninsula.

The Obama administration has made clear that the remaining funds, which require congressional approval, will be released once there is evidence that Sisi's government is ruling in truly democratic fashion, the senior State Department official said.

During his meeting in Egypt Kerry will press Sisi to release imprisoned journalists and will raise concerns about the mass trials and death sentences of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, the official said.

"Those trials are a serious issue of due process concern for us and for others in the international community," the official said, adding: "The judiciary is responding to a political environment that the government has created."

The official said the United States did not believe that the Muslim Brotherhood posed a security threat to Egypt and had seen no information that substantiated a link to terrorist groups.

The official said the United States had asked Egypt to share the evidence "but at present we do not have that information."

"We believe that in a general sense the Egyptian government needs to have a politically inclusive approach, which means that they need to include, and find ways to reach out to, the Muslim Brotherhood," the official said.

Iraq conflict

Kerry's visit is part of a broader tour of the Middle East and Europe. Obama said on Friday he would dispatch Kerry to the region for talks on the conflict in Iraq.

While in Egypt, Kerry will meet members of the Arab League.

The official said he would underscore during those talks the severity of the threat posed by Sunni militants to Iraq, the region, and the United States, and the need for Iraqi leaders to form a government not divided along sectarian lines.

"We ask that they are echoing the same message that we are conveying...that addressing Iraq's security situation is much more likely to be successful in the context of an inclusive government that is formed in short order, and can begin addressing this threat from a solid broad foundation of support," the official said.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an al-Qaida offshoot, has seized swaths of territory in northwest and central Iraq including the city of Mosul. It has taken large amounts of weaponry from fleeing Iraqi troops and looted banks.

World powers are deadlocked over the crises in Iraq and Syria. Mainly Shi'ite Iran has said it will not hesitate to protect Shi'ite shrines if asked by Baghdad but Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has warned Tehran to stay out of Iraq.

Egypt, a mainly Sunni Muslim nation, has the Middle East's largest army but its military forces have played only a limited regional role since they joined a US-led coalition to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991.

US President Barack Obama has offered up to 300 US special forces advisers to help the Iraqi government recapture territory seized by the Islamic State fighters and other Sunni armed groups across north and west Iraq.

But he has held off granting a request for air strikes to protect the government and renewed a call for Iraq's long-serving Shi'ite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to do more to overcome sectarian divisions that have fuelled resentment among the Sunni minority.

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Lanka police hit back after media flak over deadly riots

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police announced they were tightening security in the capital on Sunday after local media, in a rare show of unity, condemned them for failing to control Buddhist extremists behind deadly anti-Muslim riots.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said security would be stepped up in Colombo on Monday following reports that a Muslim group was planning a demonstration to denounce an alleged arson attack at a Muslim-owned shop over the weekend.

"We have reports of a hartal (work stoppage) on Monday," Rohana told AFP. "We are making arrangements to ensure that there is no trouble. There will be tighter security."

He dismissed the barrage of media criticism that indicated that the police should take the blame for anti-Muslim riots carried out by hardline Buddhists a week ago which left four people dead, 80 wounded, and hundreds of homes and shops destroyed.

"It is unfair to blame one individual, there are so many factors involved," Rohana said, referring to a call for inspector general of police (IGP) NK Illangakoon to step down.

The privately-run The Nation weekly took the unusual step on Sunday of leading its front page with an editorial, with the blunt headline: "The IGP must resign".

Other media joined in blasting officials for failing to rein in a hardline Buddhist group known as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS or the Buddhist Force), blamed for much of the unrest.

Arrest him," the Sunday Leader newspaper demanded in a headline, referring to the head of the BBS, Galagodaatte Gnanasara, who has publicly denied causing trouble.

Sri Lanka's Sunday Times said the burning down of the Muslim-owned No-Limit clothing store outside Colombo on Saturday "is an indication that some people might want this violence to spread".

Police were investigating the cause of the blaze, which justice minister Rauf Hakeem, the most senior Muslim in President Mahinda Rajapakse's cabinet, described as an arson attack on Saturday.

Rohana said forensic experts were expected to visit the charred building on Sunday.

The Sunday Times said a majority of Buddhists in the country did not support the extremist views of the few monks who were behind the hate campaign, and that they should be dealt with before the unrest escalates further.

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Pak woman raped, hanged from tree

LAHORE: A 21-year-old woman was raped and hanged from a tree in Pakistan, police said, in a case bearing a chilling resemblance to a spate of similar attacks that sparked outrage in neighbouring India.

The woman's boyfriend of six months, named by police as Muhammad Saqib, confessed to the rape and murder and has been taken into custody, police said.

Saqib admitted he tried to force the woman — the daughter of blind parents — to have sex with two of his friends, according to police. When she refused, investigators said the pair argued. The woman, whom he allegedly had promised to marry, was found hanging from a tree the next morning.

Police are still looking for the two alleged accomplices. "The incident occurred in Layyah district (in Punjab province) on Thursday night and was reported to the police on Friday when the local people saw a woman hung from a tree," senior police official Ghazi Salahudin told AFP.

He said the woman was raped and strangled to death, and then her body was hanged to make it look like a suicide.

"But the branch was so low and the dead body was touching the ground in sitting position," he said.

The woman was the eldest of eight siblings and made a living by farming a small piece of land.

The incident has disturbing similarities to an attack in India last month, in which two teenage girls were found gang-raped and hanged from a mango tree in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

That attack sparked protests over police apathy, and was the latest to highlight India's dismal record on preventing sexual violence. Similar headline-making cases have piled pressure on the authorities there. Pakistani police said Saqib had met the woman after he visited her house in his role as an assistant at a vegetable wholesale shop. They allegedly had been in a relationship for about six months.

A day before the murder, police said, Saqib had brought the woman for a date in the shop where he worked. He took her to the roof, where two of his friends were waiting.

When Saqib tried to persuade the woman to have sex with all three of them, she resisted, according to police. She was then allegedly raped and killed. Police said Saqib had confessed to the attack, adding that they were still investigating if the woman had been raped by the other men as well.

Though the issues of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence are not as high-profile in Pakistan as they have been in India in recent years, they are widespread in the deeply conservative country.

In March, a 17-year-old Pakistani victim of a gang-rape died after self-immolating in protest at a police decision to turn a key suspect free.

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Egypt confirms over 180 Islamist death sentences

CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday confirmed the death sentences of more than 180 alleged Islamists, including the top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, lawyers said.

Lawyers say the ruling can be overturned on appeal. It was not immediately clear how many sentences had been confirmed, with the attorneys giving estimates ranging from 182 to 197. In either case, it would be largest mass death sentence to be confirmed in Egypt in recent memory.

Lawyers boycotted the opening of the trial on March 25 to protest an earlier mass death sentence by Judge Said Youssef. A month after that session, the judge sentenced 683 people to death, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie. Of the 683, all but 110 were tried in absentia, according to defense lawyer Khaled el-Komi.

Death sentence issued for those in absentia are automatically cancelled in Egypt if they turn themselves in or are apprehended, and a retrial is ordered.

The case springs from an attack on a police station in the town of el-Adwa near the southern city of Minya on Aug. 14, in which one policeman and one civilian were killed. The attack was carried out in retaliation after police killed hundreds while dispersing a sprawling Cairo sit-in by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood.

The death sentences sparked international condemnation and raised questions about the independence of the judiciary.

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie (L) and fellow inmates gesture from inside the defendants cage. (AFP photo)

Mohammed Tosson, representative of the defense team, said that 183 people were sentenced to death, four received life sentences and 496 were acquitted. Those sentenced to death include a Coptic Christian and a blind man, said another lawyer, Mohammed Abdel-Wahab.

The charges ranged from sabotage and terrorizing civilians to murder.

This is the second death sentence against Badie, who faces multiple charges linked to the violence that engulfed the country after the ouster of Morsi. The military forced Egypt's first democratically elected leader from power last July after massive protests demanding his resignation.

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Israel steps up West Bank search for missing teens

RAMALLAH (West Bank): Israel sent more troops to the occupied West Bank on Saturday to search for three missing teenagers it says were kidnapped by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The military said it arrested 10 Palestinians on Saturday and that some 1,350 sites in the West Bank had been searched so far and more than 330 Palestinians detained.

The raids have triggered street clashes in the West Bank in which two Palestinians have been killed.

Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel's existence, has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the disappearance of the youths, who went missing near an Israeli settlement on June 13.

Hundreds of troops were deployed around the city of Hebron on Saturday, a day after the army declared the area a closed military zone, and appeared to be carrying out searches, a Reuters witness said.

Overnight in Ramallah, troops raided the offices of a media broadcast and production company, witnesses said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the soldiers found "electronic devices and magnetic media used for terrorism" that she said belonged to Hamas, without going into further detail.

Israel has also hit welfare organisations it accuses of aiding Hamas. Soldiers raided 30 such institutions on Thursday and 15 more on Saturday, a military spokesman said.

Campaign group The Palestinian Prisoners Club said the army had arrested 37 people on Saturday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the kidnapping of Gil-Ad Shaer and US-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both aged 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19.

But the Western-backed leader has also criticised the extent of Israel's recent raids, saying they amount to collective punishment.

The crisis has put pressure on a unity pact between Abbas's Fatah party and Hamas. Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki told Reuters on Friday the deal would be threatened if Hamas was responsible for kidnapping the three youths.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on his Facebook page al-Malki's comments were "irresponsible".

Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, an area that, along with East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Palestinians want for a future state. The group rejects peace talks with Israel, which Abbas has held in the past.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in Gaza on Thursday that "regardless of who was responsible (for the teenagers' disappearance) ... we stress on the right of our people to react to the agonies of our prisoners in the occupation jails".

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Israeli troops kill Palestinian, wound 3 in search

RAMALLAH (West Bank): Israeli troops opened fire at Palestinian stone throwers today during West Bank arrest raids linked to a search for three missing Israeli teens, killing a 15-year-old Palestinian and seriously wounding three, officials said.

Today's violence was a sign of the growing escalation in the West Bank as Israel's search for the three Jewish seminary students entered its second week. Israel has alleged the three were abducted by the Islamic militant Hamas, but has offered no proof.

Over the past week, thousands of Israeli troops have searched hundreds of locations in the West Bank and arrested close to 300 Palestinians, many of them from the militant Hamas group.

The Israeli military said it conducted raids in four towns and refugee camps early today, detaining 25 suspects and searching about 200 locations. The army said nine institutions linked to Hamas were searched and materials were confiscated.

In one raid, in the town of Dura near Hebron, Palestinian youths threw stones at soldiers, drawing army fire. A hospital official said 15-year-old Mohammed Dodeen was killed by a bullet in the chest.

The army also opened fire during a raid in the Qalandiya refugee camp, where three Palestinians were seriously wounded, said an official at a hospital in the nearby city of Ramallah. He said one was in the intensive care unit and two were in serious condition.

Both hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The army confirmed soldiers used life fire, saying troops were responding to life-threatening situations.

It said soldiers were engaged in sporadic confrontations during today's raids. It said Palestinians threw home-made explosives, firebombs, fireworks and stones. In Qalandiya, a soldier was lightly hurt by a grenade thrown at troops, the army said.

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Ukraine president issues peace plan

KIEV: Ukraine's new Western-backed president on Friday released a sweeping peace plan for curbing a pro-Russian uprising in the separatist east that is threatening the ex-Soviet country's survival.

The publication of the 14-point initiative followed two phone conversations in 72 hours between President Petro Poroshenko and Russia's Vladimir Putin, which highlighted the Kremlin's lingering influence over its smaller western neighbour.

Poroshenko on Thursday also hosted in Kiev local leaders and tycoons from the eastern rustbelt to help win their agreement for his ideas of how to end the fighting that has killed at least 365 civilians and fighters on both sides.

A Ukranian military spokesman said on Friday that the latest eastern clashes claimed the lives of seven soldiers and left 30 wounded.

Kiev media published copies of the document Poroshenko was due to formally unveil later in the day that demands the rebels' immediate disarmament and promises to decentralise power through constitutional reform.

The plan also drops criminal charges against separatist fighters who committed no "serious crimes" and provides "a guaranteed corridor for Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries to leave" the conflict zone.

But it also calls on "local government bodies to resume their operations"—a demand rejected by separatist leaders who have proclaimed their independence from Kiev and occupied administration buildings in about a dozen eastern cities and towns.

One rebel commander this week dismissed news that Poroshenko was about to propose a strategy for ending the country's worst crisis in its post-Soviet history as "meaningless".

The plan is officially called "Steps toward a peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukrainian regions" and is intended to stay in force for 10 days after its publication.

But it makes no mention of an immediate but temporary unilateral ceasefire that Poroshenko promised on Wednesday to declare within a matter of days.

Poroshenko has previously suggested that his call for Ukranian forces to halt their offensive would go into effect with the plans' publication.

Putin had earlier bowed to Western pressure and refused to recognise the independence proclaimed by the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the wake of disputed May 11 sovereignty referendums.

But he has lobbied heavily for Kiev to turn Ukraine into a federation that provides regional leaders with the right to draft their own laws and established independent trade relations with nations such as Russia.

The new pro-EU leaders that rose to power after months of deadly protests toppled Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych in February have faced similar pressure from Western leaders.

But Washington and the European Union have stopped short of supporting the "federalisation" idea promoted by Putin and the regional rights outlined in Poroshenko's proposal were limited.

It guarantees the "protection of the Russian language" in eastern regions and obliges the president to consult local leaders about whom he should appoint as governor.

But it does not give regions the right to elect their own heads of administration—another key Russian demand.

Putin's official reaction to details of the plan Poroshenko outlined by telephone late on Thursday has been muted.

"Poroshenko informed the Russian head of state regarding the main points of his plan to regulate the situation in southeast Ukraine," the Kremlin said in a statement.

It added that Putin gave "a series of comments" and stressed the need for the "immediate end to the military operation".

Poroshenko's office said the Ukrainian leader—elected in snap May 25 polls that gave him a convincing first-round victory against several pro-Russian rivals—told Putin that he "counts on (his) support of the peace plan".

Nato on Thursday reported another unannounced build-up of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border that the Western military alliance's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen called "a very regrettable step backwards".

Rasmussen said the Russian military had deployed "at least a few thousand more" troops in what appeared to be a reversal of the pullback Moscow had begun at the start of the month.

Russian central military district commander Yaroslav Roshchupkin confirmed on Friday that "some motorised and air defence groups located in the Urals and western Siberia have been suddenly alerted and have begun multi-kilometre marches."

Poroshenko for his part vowed to sign on June 27 in Brussels the economic portion of a key EU pact whose rejection by Yanukovych in November sparked the initial protests.

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Suicide bomb attack in Lebanon

BEIRUT: A suicide bomber killed one person and wounded 37 in an attack at a security checkpoint in Lebanon on Friday that narrowly missed a top security official who said he had been told Islamist militants wanted to assassinate him.

The explosion occurred in the country's Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, an area where Lebanese Sunni Muslim militants opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been targeting his key Lebanese ally, the Shia Muslim Hezbollah movement.

The security official, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, said he passed through the checkpoint on the main highway between Beirut and Damascus minutes before the bomber blew himself up, just 200 metres (yards) away from his convoy.

"We miraculously escaped," Ibrahim told Reuters, adding that many officials in Lebanon were being targeted by the reactivation of "terrorist sleeper cells".

"But the security services are ready and on alert to stop them and we won't become another Iraq," he said in reference to the fighting between Shia and Sunni factions in Iraq, where Sunni militants have seized wide swathes of territory.

Ibrahim, a Shia who heads Lebanon's Directorate of General Security (DGS), said security officials had information that Sunni militants were aiming to assassinate him.

"We were suspicious of the (bomber's) car when we were on our way and when the car stopped at the Dahr al-Baydar checkpoint, the explosion went off," he said.

The dead man was a police officer at the checkpoint. The wounded were mainly police, as well as civilians, in the area.

Later on Friday, security forces closed a number of roads in Beirut and Tripoli in anticipation of a security risk.

Spillover from Syria's civil war

The stepped-up security is part of an effort to contain spillover from Syria's civil war where Hezbollah fighters have helped Assad wrest back territory from mainly Sunni insurgents over the past year.

Syria's conflict has re-aggravated sectarian strife in Lebanon where gunbattles, car bombs and rocket attacks linked to Syria have killed scores of Lebanese and revived memories of the country's own 15-year civil war that formally ended in 1990.

Sunni militants are angry with Hezbollah's intervention in Syria to bolster Assad, a fellow ally of Shia Iran. Some Lebanese Sunnis have meanwhile joined the Syrian rebels.

The Shia-dominated Bekaa valley has been frequently targeted by militants. A suicide bomber killed three people there in March and rockets struck a mainly Shia town near the Syrian border later that month.

At the checkpoint where Friday's attack occurred, Lebanese television showed a charred vehicle and black smoke rising and debris littering the ground. Police said the bomber was stopped to be searched and then detonated his explosives belt.

The bomber used around 20kg (42 pounds) of explosives, a local official at the Dahr al-Baydar checkpoint told reporters in footage on Lebanese television, adding that forensic and military experts were examining the scene.

Security sources said the DGS had received intelligence that groups under the leadership of the Sunni Islamist Abdullah Azzam Brigades, who are affiliated with al-Qaida, were planning to kill Ibrahim with a car bomb.

Lebanese police have begun rounding up people they suspect of links to al-Qaida and other militant groups.

Police said they arrested a group of suspected militants in a raid on a hotel in Beirut on Friday and they included foreigners and one Lebanese. They also detained a top commander linked to al-Qaida on Thursday in another raid.

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Ex-Jerusalem mayor jailed over corruption

JERUSALEM: An Israeli court sentenced former Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski to six years in prison on Thursday for his part in a corruption scandal involving ex-premier Ehud Olmert.

The sentence was handed down at Tel Aviv district court, media reports said.

Lupolianski, mayor between 2003 and 2008, was convicted in March of accepting bribes worth $580,000 from promoters of Jerusalem's massive Holyland residential complex.
The towering construction project, which dominates the city's skyline, is seen as a major blot on the landscape and widely reviled as a symbol of high-level corruption.

Last month, the same court sentenced Olmert to six years jail for accepting bribes, making him the most senior politician in the country's history to face prison for corruption.

He was also fined one million shekels for taking bribes in connection with the Holyland project when he himself served as Jerusalem mayor.

Lupolianski was also convicted in March, but his sentence was pushed back due to ill health, reports said.

Olmert has appealed to the Supreme Court, with Lupolianski also pledging to lodge an appeal, media reports said.

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Obama not passive on Iraq: Kerry

WASHINGTON: Secretary of state John Kerry brushed aside criticism of Obama administration's Middle East policy on Thursday, taking exception to assertions that Washington has been doing too passive in the face of surging terrorism in the region.

Kerry noted the failure of the United States to secure a continuing military arrangement with Iraq's government after US combat forces left. "We didn't have operational theatre capacity at the time" of the surge in violence spawned by al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State militants, he said in an interview on NBC.

On the broader issue of Mideast policy, Kerry said that the administration has been "deeply engaged" in the region and is the largest source of humanitarian assistance. He said violence is on the rise in Iraq because Syria's Bashir Assad, who has been under siege for at least three years, "is a magnet for terrorists of all walks.".

Asked about former Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that President Barack Obama has been wrong all along about the Mideast, Kerry replied, "This is a man who took us directly into Iraq. Please."

He reiterated that air strikes have not been ruled out, saying that "nothing is off the table" in administration discussions.

Kerry didn't signal any details of involvement beyond what is already known, but did say that whatever assistance is forthcoming won't necessarily be aimed at bailing out embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The efforts will be "focused on the people of Iraq", he said. Kerry said the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, is "more extreme than even al-Qaida and they are a threat to the United States and Western interests."

He also denied having suggested that Washington was considering working on this in coordination with Iran, saying "I don't know where this comes from."

"What we have said is that we are interested in communicating with Iran," he said, "so that Iran knows what we are thinking and we know what they are thinking."

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Spain's new king aims to inspire his people

MADRID: Taking the Spanish throne on Thursday, King Felipe VI sought to inspire his beleaguered countrymen amid troubled economic times and lift patriotic spirits a day after the national team's humbling exit from the World Cup.

"We are a great nation. Let us believe and trust in ourselves," Felipe said at his swearing-in ceremony.

Felipe, 46, became monarch after his father Juan Carlos announced his surprise decision to abdicate. The 76-year-old said he was stepping aside after a four-decade reign so younger royal blood could energize the country.

Felipe, and Spain, face plenty of problems. The country is struggling to shrug off a double-dip recession and drive down its 26 per cent jobless rate. Scandals have tarnished the royal family and fuelled campaigns to abolish the monarchy, while influential groups in some Spanish regions continue to push hard for independence.

Appearing self-assured in a dark military dress uniform, Felipe sought to draw a line under Spain's recent past, promising "a reinvigorated monarchy for new times.".

Felipe made clear that he intends to restore public trust in the monarchy.

"Today, more than ever, the people rightly demand our public lives be guided by ... moral and ethical principles," he told lawmakers, who shouted "Viva el Rey (Long live the king)!"

Saying that he felt the suffering of those whose living standards were hurt by the economic crisis, Felipe urged Spaniards to shun resignation and unleash their ambitions. He said finding jobs for the unemployed was "a priority for society and the government".

In an oblique reference to separatist groups, Felipe insisted, "We all have our place in this diverse Spain." He ended his speech by saying "thank you" in three regional Spanish languages — Catalan, Basque and Galician — where independence movements are strongest.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Madrid streets as Felipe and Queen Letizia drove from parliament to the royal palace in an open-topped Rolls-Royce, waving to the crowds. The royal couple's daughters, Princesses Leonor, 8, and Sofia, 7, accompanied them for most of the day.

Authorities prohibited a demonstration by groups seeking to abolish the monarchy.

The cheering crowds and pageantry provided a welcome distraction as Spaniards reeled from the embarrassment of the national team's shock defeat by Chile in the World Cup, which ended Spanish hopes of winning a second consecutive title.

Felipe's inaugural speech came at a ceremony in the country's parliament, where the 18th-century Spanish crown and 17th-century sceptre were on display. Later, a reception for 2,000 guests at the royal place featured finger foods instead of an elaborate banquet, a deliberately modest touch that acknowledged the financial hardships being endured by many Spaniards.

Juan Carlos, who for most of his reign was held in high esteem for helping steer Spain from a military dictatorship to democracy, drew fierce criticism when he went on a luxurious elephant-hunting safari in Africa two years ago while many Spaniards were losing their jobs.

In another scandal, Juan Carlos' youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, testified this year in the fraud and money-laundering case engulfing her husband, Inaki Urdangarin.

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Iraq sacks top security officers

BAGHDAD: Iraq's prime minister fired several top security commanders in a major shake-up Tuesday as fighting approached Baghdad in a militant onslaught that the UN warned risked breaking the country up.

Washington deployed some 275 military personnel to protect its embassy in Baghdad, the first time it has publicly bolstered the mission's security.

It was also mulling air strikes against the militants, who are led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but include loyalists of now-executed Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein.

A relative calm in Baghdad — ostensibly as militants have focused on their northern assault — was shattered by a string of bombings that left 17 people dead, while the bodies of 18 soldiers and police were found near the city of Samarra, shot in the head and chest.

More than a week after insurgents launched their lightning assault, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki dismissed several senior security force officers, including the top commander for Nineveh province in the north, the first to fall.

Maliki also ordered that one of the officers he fired face court-martial for desertion.

The dismissals came after soldiers and police fled en masse as insurgents swept into Nineveh's capital Mosul, a city of two million people, abandoning their vehicles and uniforms.

As officials trumpet a counter-offensive, doubts are growing that Iraq's security forces can hold back the militant tide.

After taking Mosul, militants captured a major chunk of mainly Sunni Arab territory stretching towards the capital.

The offensive has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and sent jitters through world oil markets as the militants have advanced ever nearer Baghdad leaving the Shiite-led government in disarray.

Officials said on Tuesday that militants briefly held parts of the city of Baquba, just 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the capital.

They also took control of most of Tal Afar, a strategic Shiite-majority town between Mosul and the border with Syria, where ISIL also has fighters engaged in that country's three-year-old civil war.

The overnight attack on Baquba, which was pushed back by security forces but left 44 prisoners dead at a police station, marked the closest the fighting has come to the capital.

In Tal Afar, militants controlled most of the town but pockets of resistance remained.

Further south, security personnel abandoned the Iraqi side of a key crossing on the border with Syria, officers said.

Syrian rebels opposed to ISIL were then able to seize the Iraqi side of the Al-Qaim crossing as well.

Elsewhere, a cameraman was killed and a correspondent wounded while covering the unrest, their television channel said.

The swift advance of the militants has sparked international alarm, with UN envoy to Baghdad Nickolay Mladenov warning that Iraq's territorial integrity was at stake.

"Right now, it's life-threatening for Iraq but it poses a serious danger to the region," Mladenov told AFP.

"Iraq faces the biggest threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity" in years.

The violence has stoked regional tensions, with Iraq accusing neighbouring Saudi Arabia on Tuesday of "siding with terrorism" and of being responsible for financing the militants.

The comments came a day after the Sunni kingdom blamed "sectarian" policies by Iraq's Shiite-led government for triggering the unrest.

The prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region told the BBC it would be "almost impossible" for the country to return to how it was before the offensive, and called for Sunni Arabs to be granted an autonomous region of their own.

Alarmed by the collapse of much of the security forces in the face of the militant advance, foreign governments have begun pulling out diplomatic staff.

US President Barack Obama announced that around 275 military personnel "equipped for combat" were being deployed to Iraq to help protect the embassy in Baghdad and assist US nationals.

Washington has already deployed an aircraft carrier to the Gulf, but Obama has ruled out a return to combat in Iraq for US soldiers.

As the US weighed its next move, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that drone strikes could be used, while congressional leaders are due to meet with Obama on Wednesday to discuss Iraq's deteriorating security.

Washington has ruled out cooperating militarily with Tehran, but the two governments — which have been bitter foes for more than 30 years — held "brief discussions" on the crisis in Vienna.

The jihadists are said to have killed scores of Iraqi soldiers as they pushed their advance, including in a "horrifying" massacre in Salaheddin province that has drawn international condemnation.

Top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called for volunteers to join the battle against the militants and thousands have signed up.

Some have returned home from neighbouring Syria, where they had been fighting alongside government forces against mainly Sunni rebels there, a monitoring group said.

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Iran will protect Iraq shrines: President

TEHRAN: President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran would do whatever it takes to protect revered Shiite Muslim holy sites in Iraq against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government.

"Dear Karbala, Dear Najaf, Dear Kadhimiyah and Dear Samarra, we warn the great powers and their lackeys and the terrorists, the great Iranian people will do everything to protect them," he said, naming the sites of the shrines in an emotive speech in Khoram-abad, near the Iraq border.

Rouhani on Saturday pledged to help the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government if it asked for assistance, though at that time no such request had been forthcoming.

In his speech on Tuesday, Rouhani mentioned petitions signed by Iranians who said they were willing to fight in Iraq "to destroy the terrorists and protect the holy sites", which are visited by hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims annually.

"Thank God there are enough volunteers Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq to fight the terrorists," he added.

The Iranian pledges follow a call by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to volunteer to resist the onslaught spearheaded by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who hold the major cities of Mosul and Tikrit and are fighting north of the capital.

Iran is 90 per cent Shiite. Maliki, a Shiite, spent years in exile in Iran when Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein was in power in Baghdad.

ISIL considers Shiites to be apostates. The major Shiite shrines in Iraq are in Najaf and Karbala, south of the capital, in the district of Kadhimiyah in Baghdad and in Samarra to the north, which the militants have made repeated, but so far unsuccessful, efforts to enter.

At least 5,000 Iranians have pledged online to defend Iraq's Shiite shrines against the Sunni extremists, a conservative news website in Iran reported on Tuesday.

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Kenya arrests ‘several’ after coast massacres: Police

NAIROBI: Kenyan police have arrested "several" suspects in connection with twin massacres on the coast in which at least 60 people were killed, the police chief said on Wednesday.

"We have arrested several suspects in connection to Mpeketoni incident including the owner and driver of one the vehicles used by attackers," police chief David Kimaiyo said.

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Egyptian PM Mehleb's new govt sworn in

CAIRO: Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb was sworn in on Tuesday at the head of a new government that retained key economic and security ministers but created a new investment post to attract funds to an economy racked by years of political turmoil.

Mehleb, followed by his ministers, took the oath of office in front of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who re-appointed the premier after winning a landslide election victory in May.

"I swear by God to sincerely protect the republican system, to respect the constitution and law and take full care of the people's interests, protect the independence of the nation and the unity and safety of its lands," Mehleb said at the early morning ceremony at the presidential palace in Cairo.

Mehleb's cabinet includes veteran banker Ashraf Salman as investment minister. His appointment, and the creation of a separate investment ministry, reverses a decision earlier this year to merge the ministry with that of industry and trade.

Other new faces in the government include former ambassador to Washington Sameh Shukri, who was appointed foreign minister, and Naglaa El Ahwany, a university professor who was named minister for international cooperation.

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US hikes surveillance on Pakistan border

WASHINGTON: The top US military commander in Afghanistan says the US has increased its surveillance over the Afghan-Pakistan border, as Pakistan pounds a militant stronghold with airstrikes. So far officials haven't seen militants fleeing the latest offensive, which began on Sunday.

Marine General Joseph Dunford tells The Associated Press in an interview that the US is not coordinating military operations with Pakistan along the border, but officials have increased the amount of intelligence-sharing with the Afghans. He says the Afghan troops and US forces in that region are ready for any after-effects of the strike, including extremists seeking refuge in Afghanistan.

The US has long pressed Pakistan to root out Taliban militants who have found safe haven in the lawless tribal region of North Waziristan.

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Sharif tells Karzai to stop fleeing militants

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34 die in militant attack on Kenya town: Red Cross

NAIROBI, Kenya : Somali militants wielding automatic weapons attacked a small Kenyan coastal town, assaulting the police station, setting two hotels on fire, and spraying bullets into the street. At least 34 people were killed, officials said Monday.

Kenya's top police commander, David Kimaiyo, also said that the gunmen attacked a bank. The assault came late Sunday night as town residents were watching World Cup matches on TV. Authorities blamed al-Shabab, Somalia's al-Qaida-linked terror group.

The attack occurred in the town of Mpeketoni, which is about 30 miles (20 kilometers) southwest of the tourist center of Lamu. Any tourism in Mpeketoni is mostly local, with few foreigners visiting the region. The town is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the Somali border.

Kenya has experienced a wave of gunfire and explosive attacks in recent months. The US, UK, France, Australia, and Canada have all recently upgraded their terror threat warnings for the country. US Marines behind sandbag bunkers are now stationed on the roof of the US embassy in Nairobi.

The Red Cross, which said it had personnel on the ground, put the death toll at 34. Kimaiyo had earlier said it was 27 but that it could rise.

The interior ministry said that at about 8pm on Sunday two minivans entered the town. Militants disembarked and began shooting. Kenya's National Disaster Operations Center said military surveillance planes were launched shortly afterward.

The nearby town of Lamu is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is the country's oldest continually inhabited town. The region saw a spate of kidnappings of foreign tourists in 2011 that Kenya said was part of its motivation for attacking Somalia. Since those attacks and subsequent terror warnings tourism has dropped off sharply around Lamu.

Al-Shabab has vowed to carry out terror attacks to avenge the Kenyan military presence in Somali. At least 67 people were killed in September when four al-Shabab gunmen attacked an upscale mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Kenya sent it troops to Somalia in October 2011.

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48 killed in terror attack on Kenya town: Police

NAIROBI: Dozens of Somali extremists wielding automatic weapons attacked a small Kenyan coastal town for hours, assaulting the police station, setting two hotels on fire, and spraying bullets into the street. At least 48 people were killed, officials said.

The assault began around 8pm local time last night as town residents were watching World Cup matches on TV. The attack met little resistance from the country's security apparatus, and lasted until early this morning.

Authorities blamed al-Shabab, Somalia's al-Qaida-linked terror group.

Kenya's top police commander, David Kimaiyo, said the death toll was 48.

Another police commander said that as residents were watching the World Cup at the Breeze View Hotel, the gunmen pulled the men aside and ordered the women to watch as they killed them.

The attackers told the women that that's what Kenyan troops are doing to Somalia men inside Somalia. The police commander insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to share that detail of the attack.

A police spokeswoman said authorities believe that several dozen attackers took part.

The assault occurred in the town of Mpeketoni, which is about 20 kilometers southwest of the tourist center of Lamu. Any tourism in Mpeketoni is mostly local, with few foreigners visiting the region. The town is about 100 kilometers from the Somali border. Mpeketoni is about 600 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi.

Kenya has experienced a wave of gunfire and explosive attacks in recent months. The US, UK, France, Australia, and Canada have all recently upgraded their terror threat warnings for the country. US Marines behind sandbag bunkers are now stationed on the roof of the US Embassy in Nairobi.

The interior ministry said that at about 8pm yesterday two minivans entered the town. Militants disembarked and began shooting.

Kenya's National Disaster Operations Center said military surveillance planes were launched shortly afterward.

The nearby town of Lamu is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is the country's oldest continually inhabited town. The region saw a spate of kidnappings of foreign tourists in 2011 that Kenya said was part of its motivation for attacking Somalia. Since those attacks and subsequent terror warnings tourism has dropped off sharply around Lamu.

Al-Shabab has vowed to carry out terror attacks to avenge the Kenyan military presence in Somali.

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Saudi Arabia says rejects foreign intervention in Iraq

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia said on Monday it rejected foreign interference in Iraq, after Islamist militants seized broad swathes of the country.

In a cabinet statement published on the official news agency SPA, Riyadh blamed the unfolding crisis on years of "sectarian and exclusionary" policies.

It also urged the "quick formation of a national consensus government."

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Tony Blair says Iraq crisis not his fault

LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair said on Sunday it was "profoundly wrong" to think that the 2003 Anglo-US invasion of Iraq helped stoke the current crisis and urged the West to take targeted military action there.

In comments likely to anger his detractors at home and abroad who believe his decisions to intervene militarily in Iraq and Afghanistan made things worse, Blair told British TV that the Iraq crisis would have happened regardless of his actions.

"You can carry on debating about whether it was right or wrong what we did in 2003 but whatever had been done, you were always going to have a problem of deep instability in the region and in Iraq," Blair told Sky News.

If Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had not been toppled by US and British troops, his government would have been caught up in the same "Arab Spring" uprisings that later shook the region and now be embroiled in a bloody Syrian-style war, Blair said.

Blair spoke out as an offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shia-led government in Baghdad.

Blair, who heads a global political consultancy business, said the West would be pulled into the Iraq crisis whether it liked it or not, urging it to target Islamist extremists in Iraq and Syria with the agreement of Arab governments in the region.

"I'm not suggesting we put ground troops in and we do a full scale invasion as we did in Iraq or Afghanistan, but I am saying we are going to have to take an active role in trying to shape events in Syria and Iraq and indeed across the region," he said.

In Iraq's case, that action had to be immediate, he added, saying the selective use of air power was one option.

Political undoing

As leader of Britain's Labour party, Blair won three elections and was in office from 1997 to 2007. But the way he handled the Iraq war and the unfounded claims he and the United States made about the existence of weapons of mass destruction there - their casus belli - proved to be his political undoing.

Speaking from Abu Dhabi, Blair said on Sunday that the West's failure to take military action in Syria was one of the main reasons the Iraq crisis had bubbled up.

In an article on his web site, he said the Syrian conflict had given Islamist extremists a chance to rebuild and get military experience, saying there was a risk the country could become a more dangerous source of terror-related threats than Afghanistan in the 1990s.

He blamed the Iraqi government's sectarianism for the crisis too and said it had failed to use oil money to rebuild the country. Its army was inadequate, he added, questioning whether US forces had withdrawn too soon.

The main reason the West had to intervene in Iraq and Syria was to protect its own security, Blair told BBC TV on Sunday.

"These people, if they are allowed to grow, these extremist groups, in the end they will pose a threat for us within our own borders," he said.

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