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White supremacist serial killer Joseph Franklin executed

A US white supremacist who targeted black and Jewish people in a nationwide killing spree has been put to death in the US state of Missouri.

Joseph Franklin was executed for shooting dead a man outside a synagogue in the city of St Louis in 1977.

The 63-year-old was convicted of seven other racially motivated murders. He claimed to have committed 20 in total.

His execution came after the US Supreme Court upheld an appeal court’s decision to lift a stay of execution.

In 1978 Franklin shot Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, leaving him partially paralysed, after seeing a picture of a mixed-race couple in one of his magazines.

But Mr Flynt – who opposes the death penalty – had sued to prevent Franklin’s execution.

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UK reviewing Gibraltar navy options following incident

Britain is reviewing its navy options in Gibraltar after an illegal incursion into its territorial waters on Monday, a Foreign Office minister has said.

Mark Simmonds told the Commons a Spanish state vessel, the RV Romon Margalef, was accompanied across the border by three Guardia Civil boats.

The vessel failed to leave Gibraltan waters for 22 hours despite requests, and was challenged by the Royal Navy.

Spain’s ambassador to the UK was called to the Foreign Office to explain.

Mr Simmonds said the Spanish vessel had come within 250 metres of the entrance to Gibraltar Harbour.

During the incident, the RV Ramon Margalef said it had been “carrying out oceanographic works” that were “of the European Community interest”.

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DR Congo officers in rape and war crimes trial

Thirty-nine government soldiers accused of war crimes have gone on trial in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Most of the charges relate to the mass rape and other acts of sexual violence against more than 130 women and girls in November 2012 by a retreating army.

Correspondents say the military trial comes after months of international pressure after some officers were suspended but no soldiers tried.

The UN then threatened to stop funding army units suspected of abuses.

Armed groups in eastern DR Congo often use rape as a weapon of war.

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DR Congo is Cursed by its natural wealth

The Democratic Republic of Congo is potentially one of the richest countries on earth, but colonialism, slavery and corruption have turned it into one of the poorest, writes historian Dan Snow.

The world’s bloodiest conflict since World War II is still rumbling on today.

It is a war in which more than five million people have died, millions more have been driven to the brink by starvation and disease and several million women and girls have been raped.

The Great War of Africa, a conflagration that has sucked in soldiers and civilians from nine nations and countless armed rebel groups, has been fought almost entirely inside the borders of one unfortunate country – the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Indonesia halts Australia co-operation amid spying row

Indonesia has suspended co-ordinated military co-operation with Australia amid an ongoing row over reports Canberra spied on Jakarta officials.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the suspension included operations to stop people-smuggling, joint military exercises and intelligence exchange.

The move came after Jakarta recalled its ambassador from Canberra on Monday.

Reports of the spying allegations came out in Australian media from documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

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