UNITED STATES: Tributes poured in yesterday for US author Philip Roth, who has died from heart failure aged 85.

He is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest authors, winning the Pulitzer, US National Book Award and Man Booker International Prize in a career spanning decades.

His best known works include American Pastoral, Portnoy’s Complaint and I Married a Communist.

Biographer Blake Bailey said he was surrounded by his loved ones when he died, calling him “a darling man and our greatest living writer.”

PALESTINE: Palestine has referred Israel to the International Criminal Court, demanding it opens an investigation into crimes committed in the occupied territories.

It said the cold-blooded murder of 62 unarmed civilians protesting on the Great March of Return last week, along with mass arrests, torture and the stealing of Palestinian land, left them no choice but to take this step.

Palestine called for those responsible to be held to account but said it wanted justice, not revenge.

UNITED STATES: A New York judge has ordered the eviction of a 30-year-old man living with his parents.

Christina and Mark Rotondo filed papers at the Onondaga County Supreme Court after months of trying to get their son Michael to leave the family home.

After he continued to ignore their requests they sent an eviction notice drawn up by their lawyer, threatening further legal action.

County Supreme Court Judge Donald Greenwood granted the eviction, saying that the notice was sufficient.

TURKEY: A prominent LGBT activist has been selected as a candidate for Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP).

Hasan Atik, who is openly gay and a campaigner for HIV/Aids patients’ rights, will stand in the north-western province of Edirne in the June 24 parliamentary elections.

Earlier this week a court ruled against releasing HDP presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas, who is in jail facing a 142-year sentence on trumped-up terrorism charges.