CAIRO: A Cairo court on Sunday sentenced to one year in jail an Egyptian female dancer who featured in a controversial music video, accusing her of inciting debauchery, a judicial official said. Reda El-Fouly was arrested in May after she appeared singing and dancing, and wearing a revealing dress, in a video that went viral on the Internet. Her dancing partner and director of the video, Wael El-Sediki, was also sentenced to one year in jail in absentia, the official said. The verdict can be appealed. In April, an Armenian belly dancer was sentenced to six months in jail for insulting Egypt's national flag during a performance last year. The dancer, known as Safinaz, was tried for wearing a costume that resembled the tri-coloured flag during a performance last year in the Red Sea resort town of Ain Sokhna.

Rocket explodes

MIAMI: An unmanned SpaceX rocket exploded less than three minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sunday, in the first major disaster for the fast-charging company headed by Internet tycoon Elon Musk. Skies were sunny and clear for the 1421 GMT launch of the gleaming white Falcon 9 rocket that was meant to propel the Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station on a routine supply mission, the seventh for SpaceX so far. But two minutes, 19 seconds into the flight, contact was lost. Live television images from SpaceX's webcast and NASA television showed a huge puff of smoke billowing outward, then tiny bits of the rocket falling like confetti against a backdrop of blue sky.

12 on way to join IS

KHARTOUM: Twelve students including British, Canadian, Sudanese and US citizens are feared to have left Khartoum for Turkey to try to join the Islamic State group, their university said on Sunday. Another group of British students of Sudanese origin from the same private University of Medical Sciences and Technology travelled to Turkey in March and it is believed they crossed into Syria. "We confirmed reports from multiple parties that 12 medical students at the university left for Turkey on Friday," the dean for students Dr Ahmed Babikir told AFP. Khartoum airport authorities confirmed the group had flown to Turkey and the students' families said they had not seen them since Friday and were unable to find their passports, Babikir added. It was likely they were trying to reach Syria to join IS because they were still sitting their final exams and had not warned relatives they were leaving, he said.

Talks to miss deadline

VIENNA: Negotiators in Vienna for make-or-break nuclear talks with Iran are all "planning to stay past" a June 30 deadline to reach a deal, a US official said on Sunday, echoing comments from Iran. The official also stressed the US team was not concerned that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was returning to Tehran for the day, as talks to curb Iran's nuclear programme reach a climax. "We've said these talks could go beyond June 30 for a few days if we need additional time," the senior administration official said. "I think just given the date, and the fact that we still have more work to do, ministers coming and going, which is a good thing if they need to go back to capitals and get more guidance, the parties are planning to remain in Vienna working past June 30 to keep negotiating," the official said.