Islamist gunmen kill 29 on Kenyan coast
MOMBASA, Kenya, July 6
Gunmen killed at least 29 people in raids on two coastal areas of Kenya, the latest in a series of attacks claimed by Somali Islamists who have vowed to drive Kenyan forces out of Somalia, although a police officer cast doubt on their role.

reunion: Tariq Khdeir (R) is greeted by his mother after being released from jail in Jerusalem on Sunday. An Israeli judge on Sunday released from jail and placed under house arrest the 15-year-old American of Palestinian descent whose apparent beating by Israeli police in East Jerusalem has drawn US concern. Reuters

Shi’ite cleric wants Maliki’s bloc to elect new Iraq PM
BAGHDAD, July 6
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition should withdraw its support for his third term bid and pick another candidate, urged Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, amid parliamentary deadlock over the formation of a new government.

Teen’s death: Israeli jet pounds Gaza
JERUSALEM, July 6
Israel said its aircraft had attacked 10 sites in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in response to rocket strikes, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled that broader action in the Palestinian enclave was not imminent.

India to hold yoga fest in China
Beijing, July 6
India will hold the biggest Yoga festival in China from July 7 to 12 where the iconic Indian spiritual and physical art form has become a rage with millions of Chinese making it part of their routine.

Donetsk/keiv, July 6
Ukrainian troops regained control of four more eastern cities, senior officials said on Sunday. Ukraine's Defence Minister Valeriy Heletey and Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko reported Sunday to President Petro Poroshenko that the cities of Artemovsk and Druzhkovka in the Donetsk region, as well as Kramatorsk and Konstantinovka, were controlled by the Ukrainian forces.

Andriy Lysenko, spokesman of the National Defense and Security Council, announced earlier in the day that "anti-terrorist operation forces have freed cities of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Konstantinovka in the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours". Ukrainian troops regained control over the eastern city of Slovyansk on Saturday and started to restore order in the city. The Donetsk insisted, however, that the withdrawal did not mean the resistance had been crushed.

Pro-Russian insurgents driven out of their stronghold in eastern Ukraine have converged on the city of Donetsk, where their commander says they will regroup to continue their fight against the Ukrainian government.

Rebels from Slavyansk and other towns taken over by the Ukrainian army were seen today milling around central Donetsk, a major industrial city in the eastern region where the insurgents have proclaimed the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic.

On Sunday, Ukrainian forces shelled parts of the rebel-held town of Luhansk near the Russian border, hitting a battery-making factory and other buildings, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported, quoting rebels in the town. It said some people were wounded but there was no further word on casualties. “People are hurriedly fleeing to bomb-shelters or are leaving the area that is being shelled,” it said.

“My order is now in effect — tighten the ring around the terrorists,” Poroshenko tweeted on Sunday. “Continue the operation to liberate Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” he said, naming Ukraine’s two major eastern parts which have boiled with separatist rebellion since April.

Poroshenko’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov said: “We have a plan of action... We will move forward every day”. There were no immediate figures for casualties caused by the government offensive in Slaviansk, which comes after Poroshenko refused to renew a unilateral ceasefire and ordered the resumption of a government offensive on June 30. Ukrainian forces said they now had full control of Slaviansk and the nearby town of Kramatorsk. Many rebels appeared to have retreated towards Donetsk — Agencies

Berlin: Russian President Vladimir Putin "can be dangerous" and will always push other political leaders as far as he can, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton told a German newspaper on Sunday in response to question about annexation of Crimea peninsula. “His latest aggression in Ukraine must be answered with a joint reaction by the West," she said. 

MOMBASA, Kenya, July 6
Gunmen killed at least 29 people in raids on two coastal areas of Kenya, the latest in a series of attacks claimed by Somali Islamists who have vowed to drive Kenyan forces out of Somalia, although a police officer cast doubt on their role.

The Interior Ministry said one attack killed nine in the trading town of Hindi in Lamu County, the same district where about 65 people were killed by gunmen last month. Another was further south in the Gamba area, where 20 died.

"They went around shooting at people and villages indiscriminately," said Abdallah Shahasi, a senior official for the Hindi area, which lies near the old trading port of Lamu and Mpeketoni town, where gunmen launched raids in mid-June.

Sheikh Abdiasis abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab's military operationssaid the Somalia-based group was behind both attacks on Saturday night. It had also said it was responsible for the June raids in Lamu County, around Mpeketoni. But President Uhuru Kenyatta blamed local politicians, stoking an already fierce row with the opposition. — Reuters

BAGHDAD, July 6
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition should withdraw its support for his third term bid and pick another candidate, urged Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, amid parliamentary deadlock over the formation of a new government.

Maliki has come under mounting pressure since Islamic State extremist militants rampaged through the north and west of the country last month and declared a mediaeval-style caliphate on land they and other groups captured in Iraq and Syria.

In a statement published on his website late on Saturday, Sadr said Maliki "has involved himself and us in long security quarrels and big political crises" and suggested that preventing Maliki from serving a third term would be a "welcome step".

"It is necessary to demonstrate the national and paternal spirit by aiming for a higher, wider goal from individuals and blocs and by that I mean changing the candidates," said Sadr, who gained political influence during the US occupation. The radical cleric and his political allies had previously advocated the next prime minister be chosen from outside of Maliki's State of Law coalition.

State of Law is part of the National Alliance, a bloc comprising the country's biggest Shi'ite parties, including both Maliki's list and his foes.

"I remain convinced that the brothers in the State of Law coalition must present the candidate for prime minister ... because it is the biggest bloc within the National Alliance," said Sadr.

Dhiya al-Asadi, secretary general of the Al-Ahrar bloc, the Shi'ite political party loyal to Sadr, echoed his stance. "We are fine with any State of Law candidate as long as he is not Maliki," he told Reuters. The United States, Iran, the United Nations, and Iraq's own Shi'ite clerics have called on Iraqi politicians to overcome their differences to face the insurgency. — Agencies

The video, which if authenticated would be the first time the leader of the Islamic State (IS) has appeared on camera since proclaiming himself the leader of the world's Muslims.

JERUSALEM, July 6
Israel said its aircraft had attacked 10 sites in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in response to rocket strikes, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled that broader action in the Palestinian enclave was not imminent.

In remarks to his cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu pledged "to do whatever is necessary" to restore quiet to southern Israeli communities that have come under rocket attack. But he also cautioned against any rush toward wider confrontation with the Hamas Islamist group, the dominant force in the Gaza Strip.

Tensions were also high in Arab towns and villages in northern Israel and in East Jerusalem, after the kidnap and killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian on Wednesday. An autopsy showed he had been burned alive, the Palestinian attorney-general said.

Israel has arrested some suspects in the case, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

Palestinians believe the teen was the victim of right-wing Jews avenging the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers who disappeared while hitchhiking in the occupied West Bank on June 12 and whose bodies were found on Monday.

Police said East Jerusalem and flashpoints in Israel's Arab community in the north were quiet on Sunday after protesters throwing stones and burning tyres clashed with Israeli police late on Saturday. Palestinian-American Tariq Khdeir, 15, a cousin of the Palestinian teen, was arrested by Israeli border policemen, who his family said beat him severely, during a protest on Thursday in East Jerusalem. — Reuters

Beijing, July 6
India will hold the biggest Yoga festival in China from July 7 to 12 where the iconic Indian spiritual and physical art form has become a rage with millions of Chinese making it part of their routine.

More than 1,500 people are expected to take part in the Yoga Summit — the second such festival to be held in China in recent years — that will be held at Dali in Yunnan Province. — PTI