SPAIN: Members of the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) backed Pedro Sanchez today as their new secretary-general.

He won 49 per cent of votes against 36 per cent for nearest rival and committed republican Eduardo Madina.

Mr Sanchez said yesterday he hopes to rebuild the PSOE, which polled its lowest ever vote in the recent European parliamentary election, and to build a viable alternative to the ruling conservative Popular Party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

CAMBODIA: Two generals who led the helicopter unit of Cambodia’s air force were killed in a crash today, along with two pilots, police said. 

Air force deputy chief of staff General Um Phy said that the aircraft was a Chinese-made Z-9 helicopter.

Defence Secretary Moeung Samphan said that 300 military personnel had been sent to take part in the recovery operation.

CYPRUS: A group of Greek Cypriots filed a war crimes complaint against Turkey at the International Criminal Court today over its policy of settling the north of the island with mainland Turks.

Turkey divided the island in 1974 when it invaded in response to a fascist coup against president Archbishop Makarios.

It has engineered a Turkish Cypriot majority in the area it controls and maintains a garrison of 35,000 troops. Only Ankara regards its territory as an independent state.

CZECH REPUBLIC: The Defence Ministry in Prague reported today that a soldier had died after being seriously injured in a blast that killed four other Czech servicemen in Afghanistan last Tuesday.

The soldiers were among 16 people killed when a suicide bomber struck Afghan and foreign forces in the eastern province of Parwan.

The incident marks the largest number of Czechs killed in a single attack in Afghanistan, but Prague is determined to keep its troops in the country.

ISRAEL: Three Jewish men suspected of kidnapping and murdering Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir appeared in court today.

 Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the suspects had admitted abducting 16-year-old Mohammed and setting him on fire. They were remanded in custody until Friday.

Police are investigating three others for involvement in the killing. They remain under house arrest.

EGYPT: The Cairo appeal court ruled today that former leading members of the Hosni Mubarak regime will not be barred from running for elections.

The decision overturns an earlier ruling that had banned leaders of the National Democratic Party from taking part in any elections.

The party was dissolved following the mass popular uprising that toppled president Mubarak in 2011.

CHINA: An estimated 14 workers have been trapped following the partial collapse today of a railway tunnel in Yunnan province’s Funing county.

Xinhua news agency said that the tunnel is on a pivotal railway linking Yunnan with neighbouring Guangxi region.

The agency said that the cause of the collapse and the exact number of casualties were under investigation.

SOUTH AFRICA: The family of Nobel Prize-winning author Nadine Gordimer announced her death at the age of 90 today.

Ms Gordimer, who won the literature prize in 1991, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Johannesburg on Sunday, the family revealed.

Her two children were with her when she died. A private memorial service will be announced at a later date.