Greek PM to negotiate with Merkel and Hollande on Wednesday

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday on the sidelines of a summit in Brussels, a Greek government official reported on Saturday.The leaders of the three countries had a conference call on Saturday, which was reportedly held in a “good climate.” The officials didn’t specify the details of the discussion.Greece is in a deadlock with its international creditors over a bailout program to help the cash-strapped country get out of the crisis.

UN to hold Yemen peace talks on July 14

The United Nations said Saturday it would convene peace talks between the warring factions in Yemen on June 14, Reuter’s reports. Yemen’s exiled government wants the Houthi militia to quit the country’s main cities and recognize the authority of exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour.The Houthis want a ceasefire as a precondition to any peace talks. An Arab alliance led by Saudi Arabia has been bombing the Houthis since the end of March in an attempt to restore Hadi to power.

Saudi airstrike kills 44 in Yemeni capital

An airstrike led by Saudi Arabia’s Air Force on the Yemeni army headquarters in the capital, Sanaa, has left 44 people dead, among them 20 civilians, AFP reports.

“More than 44 citizens were martyred and 100 others including women and children, according to preliminary figures,” Reuters reports Yemeni officials as saying.

The devastated compound was in the Tahrir area in downtown Sanaa.

China’s Yangtze River disaster death toll exceeds 430

The official death toll in the Chinese cruise ship ‘Eastern Star’ catastrophe has reached 431 on Sunday, as rescuers continued to work on the wreckage in search of the bodies. The ship overturned on Yangtze River Monday night with 456 people on board amid severe weather. Eleven people are still officially missing, while only 14 people have survived, including the three found alive in air pockets under the ship’s hull by the divers. The ship was righted by cranes early Friday after hopes of finding any more survivors had faded.

Saudi court upholds 1,000-lashes sentence for blogger

Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has upheld the sentence against blogger Raif Badawi saying it was a final decision, the blogger’s wife Ensaf Haidar told AFP in a telephone interview. “This is a final decision that is irrevocable,” she said. Badawi, 31, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes on charges of insulting Islam in January. He has already received the first 50 lashes, but subsequent rounds of flogging had been postponed on medical grounds. Haidar said that the punishment “might resume next week.”