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page 39 SOMALIA Terrorist siege of Mogadishu hotel kills 20 Authorities in Somalia say a terrorist siege of a Mogadishu hotel has ended, but not before at least 20 people were killed, including a government minister. The militant group al-Shabab is claiming responsibility for the attack, saying the hotel is frequented by what it calls […]

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SOMALIA

Terrorist siege of Mogadishu hotel kills 20

Authorities in Somalia say a terrorist siege of a Mogadishu hotel has ended, but not before at least 20 people were killed, including a government minister.

The militant group al-Shabab is claiming responsibility for the attack, saying the hotel is frequented by what it calls “apostate government members.”

Somalia’s foreign minister says among the dead is the country’s environments minister, Buri Mohamed Hamza.

The Somali National News Agency said Sunday the death toll stands at 20, including three staff members of a radio station.

Police say the terrorists set off a car bomb outside the Hotel Naso-Hablod Saturday afternoon before gunmen burst into the building, firing their weapons at random and seizing hostages. Police stormed the hotel and engaged the gunmen in a firefight, cornering them on the top floor.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has condemned the attack, the second by al-Shabab in Somalia during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

IRAQ

Army claims liberation of Fallujah from ISIL

A senior Iraqi commander has declared that the city of Fallujah is “fully liberated” from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, after a military operation lasting more than a month.

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighbourhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under ISIL control, the head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lieutenant-General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said on Sunday.

Al-Saadi said the operation, which began late May, “is done and the city is fully liberated”.

The Iraqi army was backed by US-led coalition air strikes and paramilitary forces, mostly Shia units.

“From the centre of al-Julan neighbourhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief … and declare that the Fallujah fight is over,” he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers.

MALI

14 killed in land dispute

At least 14 people were killed and more than 40 injured in clashes over land between residents of two central Malian villages, a regional official told AFP Sunday.

The clash pitted villagers from Koussouma and Mougna near the ancient town of Djenne on Saturday, with both sides claiming ownership over arable land nearby, the official from the province of Mopti said on condition of anonymity.

“They clashed on Saturday over a land dispute. At least 14 were killed and 42 others were wounded,” the official said. A security source confirmed the clash.

There was no confirmation of the number of people involved in the clash. The two villages are located some 12 kilometres (eight miles) from each other.

The governor of Mopti and a local prosecutor are due to visit the two villages on Sunday in a bid to calm tensions, the regional official said.

Brexit: EU urges Britain to begin exit tomorrow

…Negotiations to start after new PM is chosen

By Abdullateef Salau with agency reports

The European Union has called on Britain to start formal proceedings on its withdrawal from the bloc at a summit this week.

The EU will hold a summit Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.

The EU, in a joint statement by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, Mark Rutte, holder of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said that any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty.

The union said until the negotiations process is over, the UK remains a member of the EU, with all the rights and obligations that derive from this.

But the British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, said “nothing is going to happen at the moment”.

He said Britain would resist pressure from the European Union for a swift start to negotiations.

The timing of the formal notification of intention to leave the EU was in Britain’s hands and talks would not start until a new prime minister was chosen to replace David Cameron, he said.

Cameron has said he will step down by October to allow his successor conduct talks.

SPAIN

Voters head back to polls to break political deadlock

Spaniards voted on Sunday for the second time in six months, in a closely watched election just days after Britain’s shock decision to exit the European Union.

The election is pitting voters asking for change in a country with high unemployment against those who fear this would worsen the situation for Spain, which was on the brink of economic collapse just a few years ago.

Polls were to close at 8pm (18:00 GMT) for Spain’s roughly 36.5 million voters. Exit polls with projections are expected within minutes after that and most votes are expected to be counted Sunday night.

Outside a Madrid polling station, many voters said they wanted Sunday’s election to bring a break with the past.

Sunday’s repeat vote comes after the four main political parties failed to agree on a coalition after December’s general election resulted in a hung parliament.

Yet, opinion polls have suggested the new ballot may also not break the political deadlock.

ERITREA

Report on abuses in Eritrea draws demonstrators, heated emotions

Thousands of Eritreans gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, to both support and protest a new U.N. report alleging that the leaders of the Eritrean government have committed crimes against humanity.

Elsewhere, hundreds of Eritrean refugees gathered outside African Union headquarters in neighbouring Ethiopia to protest the alleged crimes back home.

The report comes from a commission of inquiry set up more than two years ago to investigate human rights in Eritrea.

Its report outlined arbitrary arrests, torture, rape, enslavement, murder and reprisals against family members of dissidents inside the country.

ICELAND

Historian Johannesson wins presidential election

Historian and political newcomer Gudni Johannesson has won Iceland’s presidential election.

The final count showed 39% of Icelanders voted for him, putting him ahead of a former prime minister and central bank governor.

Mr Johannesson, 47, had told supporters he would try to be a unifying force.

The poll came amid anger at the elite, some of whom were alleged to hold offshore accounts in the Panama Papers tax evasion investigation.

The scandal forced the resignation of Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson.

Iceland’s presidency is a largely ceremonial post.

However, during campaigning Mr Johannesson – who says he has never been a member of a political party – also called for a constitutional clause allowing citizen-initiated referendums over parliamentary bills.

ARMENIA

Vatican hits back at Turkey for calling pope ‘crusader’

The Vatican hit back on Sunday at Turkey’s depiction of Pope Francis as having a “crusader mentality” after he used the word genocide to describe the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago.

“The pope is on no crusade. He is not trying to organize wars or build walls but he wants to build bridges,” spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters. “He has not said a word against the Turkish people.”

Addressing Armenia’s president, the government and diplomats on Friday, Francis departed from his prepared text to use the word “genocide”, a description that infuriated Turkey when he first used it a year ago.

CHINA

Bus blaze ‘kills 35’ in China’s Hunan

At least 35 people have been killed and 11 injured after a bus crashed and caught fire in China’s central province of Hunan, according to Chinese state media.

The bus burst into flames after crashing into a barrier along a highway on Sunday morning in Hunan province’s Yizhang county, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Two children were among those killed, while four of the 11 people taken to hospital were seriously injured, Xinhua said, adding that the driver of the bus, which carried 55 people, had been detained.

Earlier reports had said that 21 people were hospitalised.

Local officials believe that an oil leak caused by the bus crashing into a roadside guard rail may have caused the fire, Xinhua said. The cause of the crash remained unclear.

ITALY

Mafia boss caught after 20 years on run

One of Italy’s most wanted mafia bosses has been caught after 20 years on the run, with the authorities finding him asleep in his bed, police say.

Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, was arrested in the southern region of Calabria. He had been fleeing a life sentence for murder.

Police described him as a leading figure in the ‘Ndrangheta, one of Italy’s most powerful mafia clans.

The group is thought to be behind much of Europe’s cocaine trade.

Fazzalari did not resist arrest, the authorities said, and was found with a female companion.

He first fled in 1996, and was convicted in absentia 1999 of crimes including murder, attempted murder, extortion and mafia association.