PALESTINE: Israeli occupation forces shot and seriously wounded Italian citizen Patrick Corsi today as he marched in support of Palestinians in the village of Kufr Qadom, near Nablus.

Ramallah Hospital director Ahmad Bitawi said that the 30-year-old had been shot during a peaceful protest and described his condition as stable.

Village resident Khaldon Ishtawi said that the soldiers had opened fire without provocation on about 400 protesters from a distance of about 40 metres and shot Mr Corsi in the chest.

SWITZERLAND: Jewish Claims Conference executive vice-president Greg Schneider said today that it has already identified one painting belonging to late German collector Cornelius Gurlitt as art stolen by the nazis.

He said that a Pissaro among about 250 artworks found in Mr Gurlitt's Salzburg property matched one on a looted-art list.

Bern's Kunstmuseum, which inherited the collection, posted lists of the works online on Thursday.

ISRAEL: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today that his Yisrael Beitenu party favours paying Israeli Arab citizens to quit their homeland.

Its manifesto suggests ceding Arab-majority areas in northern Israel to a future Palestinian state but it does not discuss the status of Jerusalem, the future of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Israel's borders.

Mr Lieberman supports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's racist Bill to formalise Israel's status as a Jewish state.

VENEZUELA: At least 13 prisoners died of drug overdoses after inmates stormed a prison infirmary during protests demanding better living conditions, the Prisons Ministry reported on Thursday.

The protests at the David Viloria prison began on Monday when a group of inmates went on a hunger strike seeking to force out the jail's new warden.

The National Guard was called in and dozens of prisoners were transferred while 145 inmates were treated for intoxication.

AFGHANISTAN: Six soldiers were killed today in a more than 14-hour battle on a military base in the southern Helmand province.

Military officer Ghulam Farooq Parwani said that Taliban forces, including suicide bombers, had attacked Camp Bastion, formerly occupied by British forces, early yesterday morning.

Seven soldiers were wounded in the battle while more than 20 insurgents, including seven suicide bombers, were killed.

IRAQ: Bombings and a shooting claimed the lives of nine people around the capital Baghdad today, said police officials.

Two bombs exploded in markets in the suburbs of Husseiniyah and Sabaa al-Bour, killing four people and three respectively.

Gunmen in a speeding car then shot at an army checkpoint, killing two soldiers and wounding two others in Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad.

UKRAINE: People's Republic of Donetsk officials reported the deaths today of two civilians killed in a rocket attack by pro-Kiev forces on a hospital in Donetsk city.

The mayor's office said that the bombardment had badly damaged the hospital and killed a 12-year-old boy and a 55-year-old woman.

One rocket struck the roof of the hospital and another landed in the car park.