Militants kill two police in India Kashmir

TWO Indian policemen have been shot dead by suspected militants in a high security area of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, police say.

The policemen were shot from point blank range when they were on a regular patrol near the main court complex located in a busy commercial district of Srinagar, a senior police official said on Saturday.

"Both the policemen died at the spot. We don't know as yet who carried out the attack," city police chief Ashiq Bukhari said.

The attack comes at a time when security is being stepped up in the region ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh early next week.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan along the UN-monitored Line of Control (LoC), but both countries claim the region in full and have fought two of their three wars over it.

Rebels opposed to Indian rule of the territory have been mounting shoot-and-run attacks on security personnel at regular intervals in recent times.

In April, armed militants attacked a police patrol near the northern Kashmir town of Sopore, killing four.

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Kerry calls for end to Syria 'imbalance'

US Secretary of State John Kerry says supporters of the Syrian opposition will step up military and other aid in a bid to end an "imbalance" on the ground in President Bashar al-Assad's favour.

Kerry, speaking at a conference of foreign ministers in Qatar on Saturday, said that the United States remained committed to a peace plan that includes a conference in Geneva and a transitional government picked both by Assad and the opposition.

The rebels need more support "for the purpose of being able to get to Geneva and to be able to address the imbalance on the ground," Kerry said.

"The United States and other countries here - in their various ways, each choosing its own approach - will increase the scope and scale of assistance to the political and military opposition," Kerry said.

Kerry said that the governments at the conference - which include stalwart supporters of the rebels Qatar and Saudi Arabia - would work to "coordinate our support" to the opposition's Supreme Military Council.

Kerry accused Assad of an "internationalisation" of the conflict which has claimed nearly 100,000 lives by bringing in the support of Iran and the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah.

"Reliable civilian governance and a stronger and more effective armed opposition will better enable the opposition to be able to provide the counterweight to the initiative of Assad," he said.

President Barack Obama has announced plans to step up assistance to the rebels after concluding that Assad crossed his stated red line by using chemical weapons.

But the United States has said little about its own assistance, with Obama voicing concern about becoming too involved in the increasingly sectarian conflict.

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Attacks kill NATO soldier, 2 Afghan police

TALIBAN militants attacked local security checkpoints in a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan, killing two policemen in a fight that also left 18 insurgents dead, Afghan officials say.

NATO said a coalition service member also died in a militant attack in the south on Saturday, but did not provide further details.

The violence follows NATO's formal handover of security in the entirety of Afghanistan to Kabul's forces - a transition that comes at a time with violence levels matching their worst in nearly 12 years of war.

In northern Afghanistan, Kunduz provincial police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said on Saturday that the Taliban attacked multiple checkpoints at about noon Friday in the provincial capital of the same name, killing one member of the Afghan local police, a community-based force, and wounding two.

The Taliban then moved outside the city where a gun battle with Afghan security forces lasted until about midnight, Hussaini said.

Eighteen Taliban fighters and another local policeman were killed in the battle, and another 11 militants were wounded, he said.

Hussaini posted on his Facebook page a picture of 11 bodies lined up inside the provincial police compound in Kunduz that he said were those of Taliban militants his troops recovered from the scene of the fight.

The Interior Ministry said the battle outside of the city involved Afghan National Police, and that it was conducted independently "without the involvement of any foreigners."

As Afghan forces have become more involved in security operations they have seen a sharp rise in deaths, while casualties among the US-led military coalition have been reducing as the international forces pull back to let the Afghans take the lead.

According to an Associated Press count, 807 Afghan security force members - including soldiers and police - and 365 civilians have been killed so far this year through the end of May. A total of 63 coalition troops were also killed in that span.

Last year through the end of May, Afghan security forces lost 365 soldiers and police and 338 civilians were killed. Coalition forces lost 177 troops during that time.

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Dutch boys, 5 and 7, joyride in nan's car

DUTCH police have briefly detained two brothers aged five and seven who crashed a car after a short joyride.

"A police patrol this morning saw a car with the doors open and two young boys stood next to it," in Bloemendael, west of Amsterdam, police spokeswoman Lenny Beijerbergen said on Saturday.

"The seven-year-old boy told police that he had driven the car around one-and-a-half kilometres, hit a metal post on the pavement and come to a standstill," Beijerbergen said.

A policeman tweeted a photo of the crash scene, saying the car belonged to the boys' grandmother.

The photo, which was quickly removed from Twitter, showed the boys, the car and the uprooted post in a residential street strewn with debris from the car.

"At least I had my seat belt on! And my brother was in the child's seat," the seven-year-old driver said when police turned up, national news agency ANP reported.

"The boys were taken to the police station, given a talking to and made aware of what they've done," Beijerbergen said.

"Then they were taken home. Thankfully they were both unhurt."

She said there was considerable damage to the car and the pavement.

"This is really quite remarkable. I've never seen anything like it. Seven is very young," Beijerbergen said.

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Snowden extradition could take years

ATTEMPTS to extradite ex-intelligence technician Edward Snowden, charged with espionage by US authorities, will result in a protracted legal battle in Hong Kong that could last years, experts said.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that retained a separate legal system when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has a long-standing extradition treaty with the US, but Beijing has the potential to veto any ruling.

However Beijing has appeared to distance itself from any decision on the possible extradition of Snowden, who is in hiding in the southern Chinese city after blowing the lid on vast US surveillance programs targetting phone calls and internet traffic.

Hong Kong officials remained tight-lipped on Saturday as to whether they will hold Snowden a day after Washington charged the former CIA contractor with espionage, theft and "conversion of government property".

Hong Kong lawmaker Alan Leong said that if local authorities proceed with extradition, it could result in a lengthy legal battle.

"If every appeal opportunity is taken, I suppose the process will last between three and five years" at the very least, he told AFP.

The case could possibly drag "through at least the magistrates' court, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal. So, at least three levels of (Hong Kong) courts," he said.

Snowden can claim fears of political persecution and ask for political asylum, which will buy him time, said Christopher Gane, the dean of law school of Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"If the court decides this man cannot be sent back, this is the end of it. He can't be sent back," he told AFP.

"But if the court decides he could be sent back, it is still up to the Hong Kong chief executive to decide whether to do so. This is when all kinds of possible considerations can come in," Gane said.

Experts have claimed that Snowden is testing Hong Kong's civil liberties under its "one country, two systems" framework by retreating to the former British colony.

Snowden has exposed details on vast US surveillance operations, leaking documents that appear to show huge quantities of private telephone and internet data -- such as emails and call records -- have been scooped up with little or no judicial oversight.

The revelations have embarrassed US President Barack Obama's administration.

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Snowden charge 'intimidation': Assange

THE United States has charged leaker Edward Snowden with espionage in an attempt to bully other countries into abandoning him, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says.

US authorities have filed espionage charges against rogue intelligence technician Snowden and asked Hong Kong to detain him.

Assange criticised the move on Saturday in a speech the Australian had planned to deliver from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he's been holed up for over a year.

But WikiLeaks said via Twitter the appearance was postponed "due to a security situation" and instead released a copy of the speech.

Police weren't commenting and a response was being sought from the Ecuadorean embassy.

In the speech Assange says he's been able to work in relative safety from a US espionage investigation only because he sought asylum in the diplomatic mission.

"The charging of Edward Snowden is intended to intimidate any country that might be considering standing up for his rights," Assange said in the written speech.

"That tactic must not be allowed to work.

"The effort to find asylum for Edward Snowden must be intensified. What brave country will stand up for him and recognise his service to humanity?"

Assange this week revealed he'd been in contact with representatives of Snowden to discuss his possible bid for asylum in Iceland following his disclosure of US surveillance programs.

The 41-year-old on Saturday said the US government was spying "on each and every one of us" but it was Snowden who'd been charged with espionage.

"It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice," Assange said.

"Edward Snowden is the eighth leaker to be charged with espionage under this president."

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino earlier this week revealed Assange had told him he was strong enough to remain in the embassy "for five years ... rather than face legal proceedings in the US".

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UK fugitive killer arrested in Queensland

A BRITISH killer who escaped prison after being jailed for a frenzied knife attack on his aunt has been captured on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Simon Hennessey, 49, has been on the run since he walked out of an English prison in December 1998.

In 1978 aged just 14 Hennessey mutilated his aunt Mary Webber, 72, in a brutal knife attack at her home on the English south coast city of Plymouth, stabbing her 70 times.

He admitted killing his aunt but pleaded mental illness and was jailed for life in the same year.

He served 20 years of that sentence before disappearing 15 years ago, but had escaped from a number of prisons before that.

Queensland police have confirmed that a man they have charged with a series of fraud offences is Hennessey.

A spokeswoman for Queensland Police said he had been arrested earlier this month in Maroochydore.

He appeared before Maroochydore Magistrates' Court on June 17 and is currently in custody pending his next hearing in July.

"There is not much more we can say because of the court situation but we are aware that he is a wanted criminal in the UK," she said.

Hennessey's arrest is understood to be related to a sophisticated credit card scam running to tens of thousands of dollars.

He could face a lengthy prison sentence if convicted in Australia but UK police have already contacted Australian authorities to discuss his extradition.

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