World

DINANAGAR, India — Indian police overcame a group of gunmen dressed in military fatigues on Monday after a 12-hour battle that ended in a small-town police station near the border with Pakistan, and at least nine people were killed.

Police in the frontier state of Punjab killed three unidentified assailants who had pulled up at the police complex in a stolen car, automatic weapons blazing, at about 5am (2330 GMT Sunday).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his top ministers have not made detailed statements on the attack, which came weeks after he met Pakistan's premier Nawaz Sharif in an attempt to revive stalled relations between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistan issued a statement condemning the assault and extending condolences to the government and people of India, pushing back against suggestions by some Indian security sources that the assailants had crossed from Pakistani territory.

In the first such attack in Indian Punjab in more than a decade, the gunmen shot dead a barber and tried to hijack a bus before rushing the police station, witnesses said.

Shoe shop owner Amit Sharma, 43, was woken by the sound of gunfire at dawn.

"I thought someone was setting off firecrackers," Sharma told Reuters. Instead, he saw three men with assault rifles "spraying bullets everywhere".

Throughout the day, regular bouts of small arms fire echoed across the town of Dinanagar and the surrounding paddy fields, some 15km from the international border, Reuters witnesses said.

‘Very serious terrorist attack’

Regional police chief Sumedh Singh Saini told reporters at the scene it was "too early to say" where the gunmen had come from.

They were equipped with automatic weapons, ammunition, and grenades. Two GPS satellite location devices found on the men would be examined for clues, he said.

Three policemen and three civilians were also killed, according to the home ministry.

Police sources said the attackers entered from Pakistan two days ago a short distance to the north in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where separatist guerrillas are seeking independence from India.

India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, called it "a very serious terrorist attack", according to the Times of India.

Jitendra Singh, a junior minister in Modi's office, said he did not rule out Pakistan's involvement.

"There have also been earlier reports of Pakistan infiltration and cross-border mischief in this area," said Singh, whose constituency in the Jammu region borders the Gurdaspur district of Punjab where the shootout took place.

Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Salahuddin, who is based in Pakistan, denied his men were involved.

"They are not Kashmiris... According to my information definitely not... They could be home-grown militants," he told Reuters by telephone.

Rare attack in Punjab

Attacks on security installations by militants dressed as soldiers or police are common in Jammu, but Monday's was the first such assault in Punjab in 13 years, according to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks militant violence.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since both nations gained independence in 1947.

Pakistan has denied any involvement in insurgencies in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, which has a much heavier security presence to deal with operations by gunmen who attack security posts and often fight to the death.

Some analysts speculate the attack could mark the reappearance of Punjabi separatists who battled the Indian government in the 1980s, including the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the hands of Sikh bodyguards in 1984.

India's Federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he had spoken to the head of India's Border Security Force and "instructed him to step up the vigil" on the border.

Five bombs were also found on a railway track in the state, in a possible sign of an attempted coordinated attack.

After the dawn shooting in Dinanagar, attackers seized a white Maruti-Suzuki at gunpoint. The car was abandoned next to the police station with its windshield peppered with bullet holes, broken glass and bullet casings on the passenger seat.

Hours later, once the police station was secured, police moved cautiously to clear a red outhouse to its rear. A cheer went up from onlookers as police carrying automatic weapons emerged on the roof, signalling the end of the day-long battle.

The family of snack shop owner Amarjit Kumar, 50, who was killed near Sharma's shoe shop, gathered at his village home to bewail the death of its sole breadwinner.

"They have destroyed our lives. What point do these people think they have made by killing a poor, helpless man?" said his son Ranjit.

Addis Ababa — US President Barack Obama on Monday praised key African ally Ethiopia for its fight against Al Shabab militants in Somalia, but also challenged Addis Ababa on its democratic record.

Obama is on the first-ever trip by a US president to Africa's second most populous nation, a close strategic partner for Washington credited for beating back the Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamists but a country also much criticised for its rights record.

"Part of the reasons we've seen this shrinkage of Shabab in East Africa is that we've had our regional teams," Obama said, referring to African Union and Somali government troops.

"We don't need to send our own Marines in to do the fighting: the Ethiopians are tough fighters," Obama said, adding: "We've got more work to do we have to now keep the pressure on."

Al Shabab has in recent days lost two key strongholds following a major offensive by AU troops — with Ethiopians and their local allies credited with doing much of the fighting. 

While the United States does not have boots on the ground, it carries out frequent drone strikes against Al Shabab leaders.

Speaking after talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, whose ruling party won 100 per cent of seats in parliament two months ago, Obama gave the blunt message that the country — while credited with strong economic growth — needed to perform better on basic rights.

"There is still more work to do, and I think the prime minister is the first to admit there is still more to do," Obama said.

Rights groups have complained that Obama's visit to Addis Ababa could add credibility to a government they accuse of suppressing democratic rights — including the jailing of journalists and critics — with anti-terrorism legislation.

"There are certain principles we think have to be upheld," Obama added. "Nobody questions our need to engage with large countries where we may have differences on these issues. We don't advance or improve these issues by staying away."

Democracy 'not skin deep' 

Hailemariam, however, pushed back against criticism his government has quashed opposition voices and suppressed press freedom.

"Our commitment to democracy is real and not skin deep," he insisted, adding that Ethiopia is a "fledgling democracy, we are coming out of centuries of undemocratic practices".

The Ethiopian premier also said an independent press — currently virtually non-existant — was needed.

"For us it's very important to be criticised, because we also get feedback to correct our mistakes. Media is one of the institutions that have to be nurtured for democracy," Hailemariam said.

But Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu, released from five years in jail earlier this month, and who won a UN press freedom prize in 2013, dismissed the comments.

"They are not willing to do anything — still today they are harassing and arresting people," she told AFP, adding she would wait to see if Ethiopia keeps its word after Obama leaves. "If they [the US] want to pressure the government, they can."

Obama flew into a rainy Addis Ababa late Sunday after a landmark trip to Kenya, his father's birthplace, where he spoke frankly on human rights and corruption.

Talks on Monday were held in Ethiopia's presidential palace, a sprawling compound in the heart of Addis Ababa, which still houses the country's unique black-maned Abyssinian lions in the grounds, once the symbol of the "Lion of Judah", former Emperor Haile Selassie.

Time for 'breakthrough' 

Obama held talks with regional leaders on the 19-month-old civil war in South Sudan, attempting to build African support for decisive action against the country's leaders if they reject an ultimatum to end the carnage by August 17, a new deadline set by regional mediators.

Signalling a deeper commitment to ending violence that has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 2 million from their homes, Obama is expected to make the case for tougher sanctions and a possible arms embargo.

He also told reporters it was now time for a "breakthrough" in peace efforts.

"The humanitarian situation is worsening," he said. "We don't have a lot of time. The conditions on the ground are getting much, much worse."

South Sudan's rivals — President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, who will not be at the meeting — effectively face an ultimatum, a "final best offer", according to one senior administration official.

On Tuesday, Obama will become the first US president to address the African Union, the 54-member continental bloc, at its gleaming Chinese-built headquarters.

While Kenya launched one of the biggest security operations ever seen in Nairobi to host Obama from Friday evening to Sunday, the habitual reach of Ethiopia's powerful security forces meant there was little obvious extra fanfare ahead of his arrival in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia has come far from the global headlines generated by the 1984 famine, experiencing near-double-digit economic growth and huge infrastructure investment that have made it one of Africa's top-performing economies and a magnet for foreign investment.

KABUL — The Taliban took control of a large police base in a remote part of northeastern Afghanistan after some 100 police and border guards surrendered and joined the insurgents following three days of fighting, security officials said Sunday.

The loss of the Tirgaran base in Badakhshan province late Saturday marked the largest mass surrender since US and NATO forces concluded their combat mission at the end of last year. It highlighted the challenges facing Afghan security forces, which have seen their casualties soar in the face of stepped-up insurgent attacks.

The police base, in the province's Wardoj district, had been cut off as heavy rains swamped roads into the area, said Gen. Baba Jan, Badakhshan province's police chief. It wasn't clear why reinforcements hadn't been flown into the area, though the province's steep valleys make aircraft landings difficult.

"No reinforcements were sent to help the police at the base for the past three days when they were under the attack and finally they had no option: They had to join the Taliban," said Abdullah Naji Nazari, the head of Badakhshan's provincial council.

Jan said the local police commander also joined the Taliban and handed over the base's weapons and ammunition.

The Taliban issued a statement saying they captured the base along with 110 police officers, their local commander and the head of the local border police. It did not say whether the captives joined their ranks.

Jan later said the Taliban had released all the policemen and allowed them to return to their homes. He said it was unclear why the forces surrendered, insisting they had enough ammunition and supplies to hold out for weeks.

Last month hundreds of insurgents attacked security checkpoints in the province's Yamgan district, forcing police to abandon them.

Elsewhere in Badakhshan, the heavy rains have left at least six people, including women and children, dead in Kofab district, said Nawid Frotan, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

Some 130 houses had been damaged or destroyed, and authorities are trying to send food and other relief to those stranded by rising waters, he said.

In northern Baghlan province, 11 people were kidnapped Saturday after gunmen stopped their vehicle in Dahna-i Ghori district, said Gen. Abdul Jabar Perdili, the provincial police chief.

Perdili said the vehicle held 18 passengers, all Shiite Hazaras. Four women and one man were freed, and authorities were still negotiating the release of the others, he said.

NAIROBI — US President Barack Obama on Sunday ended a landmark visit to Kenya, urging the east African nation and birthplace of his father to renounce corruption, tribalism and inequality.

Speaking to a raucous crowd in an indoor arena in the capital Nairobi, Obama said Kenya needed to ditch "bad traditions" including endemic bribe-taking, domestic violence, female genital mutilation and communal violence.

"Kenya is at a crossroads, a moment filled with enormous peril but also enormous promise," he said in a rousing live address to the nation.

Seeking to leverage his status as a "son of the soil" and his huge local popularity, Obama said his ancestral homeland faced "tough choices" ahead, urging Kenyans to end the "bad tradition" of failing to empower women, while warning that "a politics based only on tribe and ethnicity is a politics doomed to tear a country apart".

"Treating women as second-class citizens... those are bad traditions, they need to change, they are holding you back," he said.

"Corruption is not unique to Kenya, but the fact is too often corruption is tolerated because that's how things have always been done," he said. "Just because something is a part of your past doesn't make it right."

Throughout his two-day trip, Obama has tried to bridge two constituencies: Americans re-examining their stereotypes of Africa, and Africans hoping for a better future.

But the friendly, aspirational message belies a hard-nosed security need.

A young but impoverished population could be fertile ground for instability and the growth of groups like Somalia's Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Shabab — who have also been at the top of the list of security concerns surrounding Obama's stay.

There were no reported security incidents during the visit, although as the presidential jet Air Force One took off from Kenya and headed to Ethiopia, a major bomb blast — most likely carried out by Al Shabab — hit a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

The target was a heavily guarded building housing diplomatic missions and frequented by government officials and international workers.

The visit has seen the United States increase its trade ties and security assistance to Kenya, with Obama also urging the country to respect its Muslim minority.

The Kasarani stadium complex where Obama delivered the speech was used to hold hundreds of ethnic Somalis during controversial mass arrests following the 2013 Somali-led Al Shabab assault on the Westgate shopping mall in central Nairobi that killed 67.

'Homecoming' 

Obama then met members of Kenya's vibrant civil society — bearing the brunt of what they say are increased restrictions as Kenya fights a "war on terror" — as well as opposition politicians.

Obama's visit to Kenya had been delayed while President Uhuru Kenyatta faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in post-election violence seven years ago.

The International Criminal Court has since dropped the case, citing a lack of evidence and accusing Kenya of bribing or intimidating witnesses, although the trial of deputy president William Ruto continues.

On Saturday, Obama stressed the importance of protecting basic rights, comparing homophobia in Africa to racial discrimination he had encountered in the United States.

"As an African-American in the United States I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law. I am unequivocal on this," Obama said, openly disagreeing with Kenyatta.

Homophobia is on the rise in Africa and espousing evangelical Christian values is a major vote-winner in many countries. 

Kenyatta replied by repeating the view that gay rights were unacceptable to Kenyans and therefore "a non-issue".

Compounding the "homecoming" atmosphere of the visit, Obama recalled details of pre-presidential trips to Kenya replete with the stuff of everyday life: broken down cars, traditional foods, lost luggage and reconnecting with his family. The president, however, joked that he wasn't in the country "to look for my birth certificate".

Barack Obama Sr was a pipe-smoking economist who walked out when Obama was just two and died in a car crash in Nairobi in 1982, aged 46.

Obama promised to be back when his presidency ends, telling leading Kenyan broadcaster Capital FM that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, a safari in the Masai Mara and a beach holiday in Lamu were all on his bucket list.

"Climbing Kilimanjaro seems like something that should be on my list of things to do once I get out of here. The Secret Service generally doesn't like me climbing mountains, but as a private citizen hopefully I can get away with something like that," he said.

YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon — A 12-year-old girl suicide bomber killed 20 people in an attack on a bar in Maroua in Cameroon, while in a crowded market in neighbouring Nigeria a "mentally handicapped" female attacker killed 14.

The child bomber blew herself up among Saturday night revellers in the popular bar, injuring at least 79 others, Cameroonian state TV reported on Sunday.

Early Sunday in the northeastern Nigerian town of Damaturu, a woman described by locals as "mentally unstable" detonated herself at the entrance of a market, trader Garba Abdullahi told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either bombing, but Nigeria and increasingly Cameroon have suffered repeated attacks by Boko Haram extremists, including a recent string of suicide attacks by women and girls.

The Islamists, whose six-year insurgency and efforts to quell it have left at least 15,000 dead, have recently stepped up their attacks in the restive Lake Chad region despite a major regional offensive. 

Cameroon's army has joined the campaign against Boko Haram after a series of deadly cross-border raids into its territory.

The insurgents have abducted thousands of people, including hundreds of women and girls, in the past two years, rights groups say.

The former commercial hub of Maroua in northern Cameroon was already reeling after 13 people were killed in twin suicide bombings by two teenage girls on Wednesday in a central market and in a nearby neighbourhood.

Violence returned on Saturday night to the town, which has been under heavy security for months as the threat from Boko Haram has grown.

"A girl of around 12 blew herself up between two takeaway sales points. Security forces have sealed off the area and have made several arrests," state TV said.

Saturday's was the fifth suicide attack to hit Cameroon in two weeks.

A resident told of "a loud explosion", saying there had been an attack at the Boucan bar, a large and popular nightspot.

"There's panic," he said.

Motorbikes, which the insurgents often use to stage their raids, are banned in Maroua after dark, and several regions of Cameroon have prohibited the use of the full Islamic veil as they seek to curb the threat from female suicide bombers.

In Damaturu in Nigeria, witnesses and hospital sources described the tragedy that struck the market area on Sunday.

"Today is the market day here and at 9:50 [0850 GMT] this morning, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at the... entrance of the market where commuters were arriving," trader Abdullahi told AFP.

"We evacuated 15 dead bodies to the hospital, including the suicide bomber who was identified as a mentally unstable woman that had been known for years in the area," he said, adding that the attacker was around 40 years old.

The death toll was confirmed by a nurse from a local hospital, who added that 47 people with injuries — many of them critical — had been admitted.

"Eight of the dead are women. One of them, from all the indications, was the suicide bomber," added the nurse from the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, who requested anonymity.

Dumaturu was the scene of a triple suicide bombing on July 18 when three girls blew themselves up killing at least 13 people as residents prepared for the Eid festival marking the end of Ramadan.

The town is the capital of Yobe state which, along with the other northeastern states of Borno and Adamawa, has been the worst hit by Boko Haram's bloody campaign for a hardline Islamic caliphate, which has left 1.5 million people homeless since 2009.

A new wave of violence has claimed 800 lives since Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in May vowing to crush the insurgency.

NAIROBI — US President Barack Obama declared Saturday that "Africa is on the move", praising the spirit of entrepreneurship at a business summit on landmark visit to Kenya.

Obama arrived in Kenya late on Friday, making his first visit to the country of his father's birth since he was elected president.

"I wanted to be here, because Africa is on the move, Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world," Obama said, drawing cheers and applause from delegates.

"People are being lifted out of poverty, incomes are up, the middle class is growing and young people like you are harnessing technology to change the way Africa is doing business," Obama said in his first official engagement in Nairobi.

The US embassy itself warned the summit could be "a target for terrorists", but Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, sharing the stage with Obama, said the event showed a different side of Africa.

"The narrative of African despair is false, and indeed was never true," Kenyatta said. "Let them know that Africa is open and ready for business."

In the afternoon Obama was welcomed at State House for talks with Kenya's government. On arrival he shook hands with Deputy President William Ruto, who is on trail at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague accused of crimes against humanity during post-election violence in 2007-08.

Security, trade and human rights were all on the agenda.

A massive security operation was under way in Nairobi Saturday, with parts of the usually traffic-clogged capital locked down and airspace also closed for the president's landing on Friday and his scheduled departure late Sunday for neighbouring Ethiopia.

Top of the list of security concerns is Somalia's Al Qaeda affiliate, Al Shabab, who have staged a string of suicide attacks, massacres and bombings on Kenyan soil. Two years ago an Al Shabab assault on the Westgate shopping mall in the heart of the Nairobi left 67 dead.

Obama also laid a wreath at the memorial site of the US embassy destroyed in an Al Qaeda attack in 1998, standing in silence in memory of the 224 killed in the twin bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania.

Massive security operation 

Obama said he was delighted at the trip, which many Kenyans see as a "homecoming".

"It is wonderful to be back in Kenya," Obama said, also greeting the summit with a few words of Swahili. "I'm proud to be the first US president to visit Kenya, and obviously this is personal for me. My father came from these parts."

Barack Obama Sr was a pipe-smoking economist who the US leader has admitted he "never truly" knew. He walked out when Obama was just two and died in a car crash in Nairobi in 1982, aged 46.

Excitement has been building in Kenya for weeks, with the visit seen as a major boost for the east African nation's position as a regional hub — something that has taken a battering in recent years due to Al Shabab attacks and political violence that landed Kenyan leaders in the ICC.

The visit is also the first ever to Kenya by a sitting US president. At least 10,000 police officers have been deployed to the capital.

Kenyatta greeted Obama as he stepped off Air Force One late Friday. The president's half-sister Auma was also on the tarmac to welcome him and travel in the bomb-proof presidential limousine, nicknamed "The Beast", for the drive to the hotel in the city centre, where Obama dined with members of his extended Kenyan family.

Human rights 

on the agenda 

Kenya is now the target of frequent Al Shabab attacks, while the country's Muslim-majority regions are facing a major recruitment drive by the militants.

The United States is a key security partner for Kenya, which has troops in Somalia as part of the African Union force, and US drones frequently target Al Shebab fighters — killing the group's previous leader last year.

A presidential visit to Kenya had been put on hold while Kenyatta faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the post-election violence. The ICC has since dropped the case, citing a lack of evidence and accusing Kenya of bribing or intimidating witnesses.

Ruto, whose ICC trial continues, is an unapologetic homophobe and has in the past described gays as "dirty".

Asked earlier this week whether gay rights would be discussed, Kenyatta insisted it was "a non-issue", but Obama, in an interview with the BBC, said he was "not a fan of discrimination and bullying" and that this would be "part and parcel of the agenda".

On Sunday Obama will meet with members of Kenya's civil society, who have complained of growing restrictions in the country. He is not scheduled to visit his father's grave in the village of Kogelo in western Kenya and bemoaned the heavy security restrictions earlier this month.

"I will be honest with you, visiting Kenya as a private citizen is probably more meaningful to me than visiting as president, because I can actually get outside of the hotel room or a conference centre," Obama said.

But his visit has already had a lasting impact, with a batch of Kenyan newborn babies named in honour. Two new mothers in western Kenya named their sons after the president's jet, Air Force One.

ATHENS — Aid workers called for emergency accommodation for hundreds of migrants who are camped out in the streets of the Greek capital as it struggles back from the brink of financial collapse.

Hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria have set up temporary camps in central Athens while waiting to move on to what they hope will be a more permanent home in Europe.

There are two chemical toilets in the park for the migrants and they wash themselves by using a garden hose attachment at the park's taps. Stagnant water and human waste attract mosquitoes, and some of the children who walk barefoot in the park are covered in insect bites.

Strewn with old clothes, garbage and waste and with summer temperatures reaching as high as 38OC, the sites are unfit for habitation but remain because there is no alternative.

"We need a campus because more and more people are coming so they cannot live like this in the centre of the city," said Nikitas Kanakis, president of the Greek section of medical charity Doctors of the World.

"It's not good for them, it's not safe for them, and it's not good for the city," he said.

The migrants have all made the perilous journey from war-torn Afghanistan through Turkey to the Greek islands, where they enter Europe for the first time, usually to find overcrowded and unsanitary camps.

"Every day there's suicide attack in Afghanistan, in the north, and in the south of Afghanistan there's a lot of problems," said 25 year-old Naeem from the Panjshir valley in northern Afghanistan. "Because Taliban everyday they attack the national army and police of the Afghanistan and the government."

Naeem said he wanted to reach Germany but for the moment, he is living at a makeshift camp at the Pedion Tou Areos Park in central Athens because the official reception centres where migrants were previously accommodated were closed.

No water, no food

While the overcrowded and unsanitary official centres were the target of strong criticism, their closure has left a gap.

However with Greece in the grip of its most severe economic crisis since World War II and facing an uncertain future while talks over yet another international bailout begin, prospects of immediate relief appear distant.

"It's a huge problem because there are families with young children in a really bad situation with no water, with no food," Kanakis said, adding that his organisation tried to provide basic medical care but more was needed.

"We need a place, a centre where they can stay," he said.

Along with Italy, which has faced a massive influx of African migrants arriving by boat from Libya, Greece is at the front lines of a crisis that has threatened to overwhelm public services already worn down by years of recession.

According to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, migrant arrivals in Greece have leapt almost tenfold in the first six months of the year, jumping from 3,452 in the first six months of 2014 to 31,037 this year.

A coordinated response from Europe has been slow in coming however, caught up by wrangling over how to distribute the arrivals among countries where anti-immigration parties have seen a steady rise in support.

"This is an emergency for Europe not to tell that they will help, to help. Otherwise, the situation will become worse and worse and we will see in the middle of Athens pictures that the humanitarian doctors have seen back in the east or back in Africa," Kanakis said.

ATHENS — Talks between Greece and its international creditors over a new bailout package should go ahead on Monday after logistical issues that delayed meetings this week are resolved, a Greek official said on Saturday.

The meetings with officials from the European Commission (EU), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been expected to start on Friday but were delayed by organisational issues including the location of talks and security.

The finance ministry official said talks were now expected to get under way formally on Monday after the logistical issues were resolved. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied that the government was trying to keep the lenders' team away from government departments.

"We don't have any problem with them visiting the General Accounting Office," the official said.

Greeks have viewed inspections visits by the lenders in Athens as a violation of the country's sovereignty and six-months of acrimonious negotiations with EU partners took place in Brussels at the government's request.

Asked if the government would now allow EU, IMF and ECB mission chiefs to visit Athens for talks on a new loan, State Minister Alekos Flabouraris said: "If the agreement says that they should visit a ministry, we have to accept that."

The confusion around the expected start to the talks on Friday underlined the challenges ahead if negotiations are to be wrapped up in time for a bailout worth up to 86 billion euros to be approved in parliament by August 20, as Greece intends.

Already, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is struggling to contain a rebellion in his leftwing Syriza Party that made his government dependent on votes from pro-European opposition parties to get the tough bailout terms approved in parliament.

Call for clear solution

One of Tsipras' closest aides warned that the understanding with the opposition parties could not last long and a "clear" solution was needed, underlining widespread expectations that new elections may come as soon as September or October.

"The country cannot go on with a minority government for long. We need clear, strong solutions," State Minister Nikos Pappas told the weekly Ependysi in an interview published on Saturday.

Apart from the terms of a new loan, Greece and its lenders are also expected to discuss the sustainability of its debt, which is around 170 per cent of GDP. Greece has repeatedly asked for a debt relief and the IMF has said this is needed for the Greek accord to be viable.

European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told Italy's La Stampa daily in an interview that a recent analysis on the issue "justified some concerns". He added a Greek exit from the euro was "certainly out of the question now".

Tsipras, who is by far the most popular politician in Greece according to opinion polls, has said his priority is to secure the bailout package before dealing with the political fallout from the Syriza Party rebellion.

According to a poll by Metron Analysis for Parapolitika newspaper on Saturday, 61 per cent of Greeks had a positive view of Tsipras against 36 per cent who disapproved. An overwhelming majority — 78 per cent — still wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone against 19 per cent in favour of going back to the drachma.

Tsipras insists there is no viable alternative to the bailout but has been wary of striking out against his party opponents in a bid to keep it together, at least while talks proceed.

Flabouraris called on Syriza rebels to drop their opposition.

"They are still my comrades and I urge them to get back to their senses even at the last moment," he told Skai television. "They should realise that the Left movement is now in power. It's not an opposition party. Now we have to discuss the new landscape." 

NAIROBI — Presidential tours are always expensive, but especially so when the country being visited is, like Kenya, the scene of regular terrorist attacks.

US and Kenyan officials are fixated on making sure Al Qaeda's Somali-led affiliate, Al Shabab, cannot violently disrupt the US presidential visit this week.

"The American president is a high value target so an attack, or even an attempt, would raise the profile of Al Shabab," warned Richard Tutah, a Nairobi-based security and terrorism expert.

Mitigating that is an overwhelming security presence in the capital. "The level of security is suffocating," said Abdullahi Halakhe, a regional security analyst.

President Barack Obama is due to address an international business summit in Nairobi, an event the US embassy itself warned could be "a target for terrorists".

The closely-held details of the security arrangements for the three-day visit are a source of endless fascination and speculation in the Kenyan media.

"US President Obama's security gadgets arrive," read the headline in The Star, a tabloid with a talent for Kenyan security scoops.

"A US military cargo plane... will ferry in a whole range of secure advanced communications equipment, some of it to be used by President Obama himself when he lands," the paper breathlessly reported.

Hundreds of American security personnel have arrived in Kenya in recent weeks. Kenyan media reports that three hotels — the Sankara, Villa Rosa Kempinski and Intercontinental — have been scouted by the Secret Service.

The Beast 

This week the distinctive Osprey tilt-rotor aircrafts, usually stationed at the US military base in Djibouti, flew over Nairobi alongside a White Hawk chopper with presidential insignia, causing much excitement on social media.

Other military helicopters have been flown in reportedly from a US special forces facility at Kenya's Manda Bay base, which serves as a launchpad for raids on Al Shabab in Somalia.

Kenya is also playing its part. Nairobi's police commander Benson Kibue said on Wednesday that 10,000 police officers — roughly one quarter of the entire national force — would be deployed to the capital.

Kibue also said that a series of main roads would be closed on Friday and Saturday, in a move that will paralyse the traffic-clogged city.

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority announced that national airspace will be closed for 50 minutes on arrival and 40 minutes on departure, unwittingly publicising the exact dates and timings of Obama's travel.

Kenya and Islamic extremism have been entwined since 1998 when Al Qaeda bombed the US embassy in Nairobi.

While in capital, Obama is expected to travel in his bespoke, bomb-proof limousine, nicknamed “The Beast”.

The $1.5 million car is a moving fortress with 20.3cm thick steel plates, 12.7cm thick bulletproof glass, Kevlar-reinforced tyres, and a presidential blood bank in the boot.

The Beast is one of as many as 60 vehicles flown into Kenya for the visit, Kenya Airports Authority officials told The Standard newspaper, as snapped photos of the vehicles arriving on cargo planes were shared on social media.

Fight against terror 

Obama's three-nation tour of Africa in 2013 was estimated to have cost between $60-100 million.

A planning memo leaked to The Washington Post revealed that security measures for the visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania included a navy aircraft carrier moored offshore, fighter jets providing 24-hour air cover, more than a dozen armoured limousines flown in and sheets of bulletproof glass imported to protect the hotels where he stayed.

Bill Clinton's 1998 six-nation Africa tour cost $42.8 million — not including Secret Service expenses which were classified — according to the US Government Accountability Office. 

Three-quarters of those costs were incurred by the Department of Defence which flew 98 airlift missions taking equipment to Africa for the tour.

No US president has ever visited Kenya which, along with its neighbour Ethiopia — also due a presidential visit on this tour — is a crucial ally in fighting Islamic extremism emanating from Somalia.

Al Shabab has proved itself adept at launching low-tech assaults on soft targets such as Nairobi's Westgate Mall in 2013, Garissa's university in April and small towns on Kenya's coast, but it has failed to emulate the terrorist spectacular of 1998.

Obama is expected to visit the Nairobi bomb site during the Kenya leg of his trip.

In a televised address on Wednesday, ahead of Obama's visit, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta acknowledged the threat posed by terrorists. 

"Our country has endured the attacks of depraved, ideological criminals," he said. "We have fought them unrelentingly, and they know, as well as we do, that they will lose."

Kenyatta added that there is "very close cooperation" with the United States and "the fight against terror will be central" to his scheduled meeting with Obama.

In a press conference in Washington this month Obama bemoaned the heavy security restrictions during his visit to Kenya, his father's homeland.

"I will be honest with you, visiting Kenya as a private citizen is probably more meaningful to me than visiting as president, because I can actually get outside of the hotel room or a conference centre," Obama said.

MOSCOW — Astronauts from Russia, Japan and the United States Thursday docked successfully with the International Space Station after a two-month delay, despite a minor hiccup.

The Soyuz TMA 17M rocket — carrying cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, US astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of Japan — blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome on schedule after a two-month delay caused by the failure of a Russian rocket during an unmanned resupply mission.

The launch and the docking were successful even though one solar array — a type of power supply that captures energy from the sun — did not deploy on time.

Both Russian and US space officials said the mishap did not affect the rocket's flight because the other solar arrays were still operating.

"Now that was awesome. Thank you to everyone who made this dream come true!" Lindgren wrote on Twitter.

Russian television broadcast footage of a beaming crew next to Russia's Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko, as well as Scott Kelly of NASA, who welcomed them on board the orbiting lab.

The spacecraft blasted off on schedule from Russian-leased Baikonur in the barren Kazakh steppe at 2102 GMT, and after a fly-around at around 350 metres, the rocket manoeuvred to dok with the ISS at 0246 GMT.

Russian space officials stressed that the launch had been smooth and the third stage of the Soyuz rocket had separated on time but pointed to a possible problem with solar panels.

"A commission will probably be put together. Of course this situation will be looked into," veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin said in televised remarks.

'Same happened last year'

Dmitry Rogozin, deputy prime minister in charge of the space industry, ordered the Roscosmos space agency to resolve the problem.

"The same happened last year," he said, suggesting that a possible manufacturing defect could be to blame.

Scientists and space enthusiasts around the world were watching the launch closely and with some concern, given the mission had been delayed by two months after the failure of a Russian rocket. 

Russia was forced to put all space travel on hold after the unmanned Progress freighter taking cargo to the ISS crashed back to Earth in late April.

The doomed ship lost contact with Earth and burned up in the atmosphere. The failure, which Russia has blamed on a problem in a Soyuz rocket, also forced a group of astronauts to spend an extra month aboard the ISS. 

A space workhorse dating back to the Cold War era, the Soyuz is used for both manned and unmanned flights.

Ahead of the launch, the three astronauts said they stood by the Russian space programme but conceded that, in space, everything might not go as planned. 

"Machinery is machinery. It can let you down," the crew's commander Kononenko, 51, told reporters this month.

The trio will spend 163 days in space, with NASA's Lindgren, 42, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Yui, 45, making their maiden space voyages.

The spacemen said they were Star Wars fans and had chosen the R2-D2 robot, a key character in the film series, as a zero-gravity indicator for their mission. 

For the official poster of the ISS Expedition 45, the astronauts posed wearing brown Jedi robes and clutching light sabres.

Sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first Sputnik satellite four years earlier are among key accomplishments of the Russian space programme, and remain a major source of pride in the country.

But over the past few years, Russia has suffered several major setbacks, notably losing expensive satellites and unmanned supply ships to the ISS.

The United States has struggled with problems of its own, with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket exploding minutes after liftoff from Florida's Cape Canaveral in June.

In October, US company Orbital's Antares rocket exploded after launch.