Tradisional Sabah Borneo

MUMBAI<

India executed  convicted bomb plotter
Yakub Memon on Thursday for conspiring
in the nation's deadliest attack a series of
blasts that killed hundreds in Mumbai
more than two decades ago,

Memon was hanged at Nagpur jail in
the western state of Maharashtra on his
53rd birthday after India's president and
Supreme Court reected 11th-hour appeal
for clemency.

"It is complete ,Yakub Memon was hanged
today at 7.00am (01.30 GMT)" Nagpur
police sud inspector R.V. Halami told
AFP

Memon a former accountant,was convicted
of plotting a series of co-ordinated bomb
attacks that rocked India's financial capital
Mumbai in March  1993 ,killing 257 people
and inuring around 700 more,

They were believed to have been staged
by Mumbai's Muslim dominated under world
in retaliation for anti Muslim violence that
had killed more than 1,000 people a few
months earlier.

Security was tight near the targets and at
sensitive areas across Mumbai on Thursday
with heavily ,armed police outside Memon's
former home and at a cemetery for burial
ate in the afternoon.

Memon and two of his brothers were convicted
in 2006 by a specially -designate court using
controversial ant-terror legislation that was
introduced after 1993 attacks and is no
longer on the statute books,

Memon was the only one of 11 people found
guilty over the atrocity to have his death
sentence upheld on appeal.
The others had their sentences commuted
to life imprisonment .

He denied any involvement in the blasts
during a staggered trial and appeal process
that bitterly divided opinion in India
and ed to calls from rights activists and an
ex-judge for his life to be spared,--AFP

CALAIS: FRANCE;
Migrants holed up in northern France made
fewer attempts to get to England via the
Channel Tunnel in the early hours of Saturday
police said ,suggesting beefed up security
is having an impact,

Police counted several hundred bids to
enter the premises of the Eurotunnel terminal
in the French port city of Calais ,down
significantly from the roughly 2,300 attempts
registered the night before,

Authorities arrested around 300 of  the
roughly 800-1,000 migrants estimated to
be  present at the site,

Eurotunnel did not give precise figures
but acknowledged  the night had been
quieter than the previous nights,
Traffic through the tunnel,which had been
severely  disrupted the previous day ,was
barely affected,

Early Thursday morning ,there  were no
reported delays on either side of the Channel
Tunnel on what is expected to be a busy
day at peak European holiday season.

Police intercepted the vast majority of the
few hundred migrants who did attempt to
penetrate the Eurotunnel  premises without
violence,said an AFP reporter on the scene.

Some organised a sit-in to try to block shuttles
exiting the tunnel.
The crisis in Calais has spiked in intensity in
the past few days,with upwards of 2000
desperate bids to sneak into the tunnel to get
to Britain--seen as an Eldorado " for migrants.

One man died in the early hours of  Wednesday
apparently crushed by a lorry as he tried to
make it into the tunnel.

The morning crisis sparked concern from both
France and Britain ,with both governments
announced emergency measures.

France 's interior minister sent 120 additional
police officers to the scene on a temporary basis.
while London said it would provide an extra
seven million pounds (9.8 million euros)
to help beef up security on the French side
of the border---AFP

KATHMANDU;
Nepal Earth Quakes which killed more than
seven thousand people  and injured more than twice
as that.
FULL  DOCUMENTARY

MANILA:  Three Philippine soldiers were
killed and 13 wounded in a midnight ambush
by Maoist guerrillas in the northern highlands,
the army said Tuesday,

The rebels detonated  a roadside bomb and
then opened fire on three millitary trucks
driving on a dirt road in  the mountain
town of Pinukpuk on Monday night, Local
military commander Brigadier -General Paul
Atal said.,

"It was a treacherous attack,They really
wanted to inflict casualties that's why
they used land mines " he said .

The 30-man unit was returning to base
after security patrols when it was attacked
he added
In a separate incident on Sunday,rebel forces
attacked a security outpost in the southern
province of Compostela Valley ,where they
burned an excavator and seized two security
guards said regional military spokesman
Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Gubat,

The 4,000 strong NPA the armed wing of the
Communist Party of the Philippine ,has waged
a guerilla campaign for 46 years ,which has
claimed tens of thousands of lives ,largely
in rural areas  mired in poverty,

Peace negotiations have stalled under
President Benigno Aquino as the government
has refused to grant the rebels demand to free
some of its captured leaders who are facing
criminal chargers .

Last month,the government detained a senior
leader of the communist party and killed
one of its most prominent guerrilla fighters in
separate operations

AFP

KUALA LUMPUR
Prime Minister Datuk Seri  Najib Tun Razak
yesterday conveyed his condolence to the
family of Indian former President DR APJ
Abdul Kalam,who died on Monday.

"His passing is a loss to the scientific
community,Najib said in his latest tweet,.
Dr Abdul Kalam died after he collapsed
while delivering a lecture in Shillong
<Meghalaya,India ,at about 9 pm(11.30 pm)
in Malaysia,

He was 85 Initial reports by the local
media said he had suffered a cardiac arrest.

The former president collapsed during the
lecture at the Indian Institute of Management
and was rushed to hospital where he died
two and a half hours later,

Born in  Rameswaram Tamil Nadu Dr
Abdul Kalam was India's 11th  President
serving 2002 to 2007.

He was known as the "missile" man of
India for having envisioned India as a
superpower nation by 2020,
He had also contributed significantly
to the betterment of children and women
by promoting literacy among the hard-score
poor--BERNAMA

BOGOTA:  Colombia's Nevado de Ruiz
volcano erupted in an ash cloud on
Sunday prompting authorities to temporarily
close two airports in the area,

The civil aeronautics agency said if closed
airports a Manizales  and Pereira as a
precaution after the 830 am (13.30 GMT)
eruption.

This resulted in the cancellation  of at
least  16 flights on Sunday
A major eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz
in 1985  meted the volcano's snowcap,,
unleashing mudslides that  wiped out
the town of Armero,killing an estimated
23,000 people.

The volcano ,which has been active  for
an estimated 150,000 years is 220 kilometres
(137 miles) west of BOGOTA,  AFP

HONOLULU;  Hawaii faces a growing
challenge finding people who can translate
court hearings as the number of migrants
from Pacific Island countries climbs.

Officials say the state has a limited pool
of court interpreters ,and they often must
travel between the islands for proceedings.
creating logistical challenges.
 
The migrants come to Hawaii under an
agreement with the US  government,
The Compact of Free Association lets
citizens from the Federated States of
Micronesia,the Republic of  the Marshall
Islands and the Republic of Palau live
and work freely in the United States
in exchange for allowing  the US military
to control strategic land and water areas
in the region.

"The Pacific island languages are a really
hard one"said Debi  Tullang -De Silva
program director of the state Judicary's
Office on Equality and Access to the Courts.

So far no cases have been derailed because
of the shortage ,According to the state's court
system,in 2008 about 6,800 cases required
interpreting services and that figured jumped
to nearly 7,700 in 2012 ,There were more
than 8,200 interpreted proceedings in 2013
the  most recent year complete data are
available,AFP

WELLINGTON  :
New Zealand police searching for a pair
of missing Canadian students said Monday
that two bodies had been found in avalanche
debris near the area there were hiking.

While the bodies have yet been formally
identified ,police said the families of the
Canadians Vincent Lessard and Erienne,
Lemieux had been told of the development.

Police said Lessard and Lemieux ,both
23 had no been heard from since July 7
when they took a bus to Te Anau in the
South Isand intending to hike the rugged
Kepler Track.

The bodies were found in a avalanche
debris about 350 metres below the track
police said ,adding that they had been
taken to Te Anau for identification.

New Zealand media reported that the
missing men were industrial design students
at Moontreal University, AFP

LONDON :

A Russian businessman wanted in Britain
over the death of ex spy Alexander Litvinenko
was on Monday given a final chance to give
evidence to the inquiry into the death.

Dmitry Kovtun had been due to appear via
video link  from Moscow for three days  from
Monday ,after  reversing a previous decision
not to do so in March ,but has given a series
of reasons for being unable to testify,

Judge Robert Owen ,who is presiding over,
the inquiry gave Kovtun ,until Tuesday
to provide testimony ,saying he feared
the Russian was attempting to "manipulate
the situation."

Kovtun and a second Russian Andrei Lugovoi
,are wanted by British police for allegedly
poisoning Litvinenko in London hotel
on November 1, 2006 using tea laced with
polonium-210,a radioactive isotope--AFP

SANTA CLARA:

Pengurus Manchester United ,Louis van
Gaal melontarkan timbunan pujian kepada
penjaga gol David De Gea selapas dia kembali
beraksi daripada berehat akibat kecederaan
untuk mengekang Barcelona ,Sabtu lalu,

DeGea terlepas due perlawanan pertama United
pada jelajah AS akibat kecederaan ,yang
menyemarakkan lagi spekulasi akan berpindah
ke Real Madrid,yang mengininya untuk
mengantikan Iker Casillas,

Bagaimana pun ,De Gea kembali beraksi
untuk berdepan dengan Barcelona di Stadium
Levi's melakukan beberapa penyelamatan
penting ketika mengawal pitu gol.

Van Gaal menyatakan rasa  kagumnya
terhadap keupayaan De gea untuk kembali
beraksi walaupun baru selesai  berehat
akibat kecederaan
AFP

ISTANBUL:

A car bomb attack killed two Turkish soldiers
in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of the
country ,after separatist  rebels warned they
would no longer observe a truce after Ankara
's air strikes on their position in Iraq,officials
said Sunday.

Turkey has launched a two-pronged "ant-
terror" across -border offensive against
Islamic State ( IS )jihadists and Kurdistan
Workers Party PKK militants after a wave
of violence in the country ,pounding their
positions with air strikes and artillery.

But the expansion of the campaign to
include not just IS targets in Syria but PKK
rebels in neighbouring northern Iraq bitterly
opposed  to the jihadists has put in jeopardy
a truce with Kurdish militants that has
largely held since 2013.

The PKK on Saturday said that the conditions
were  no longer in place to observe the
ceasefire,following  the heaviest Turkish
air strikes on its positions in northern
Iraq since August2011.

The car bomb went off as the soldiers
were travelling on a road in the Lice district
of Diyarbakir province ,last Saturday,the
statement from the local governor's office said,

"Two of our personnel were killed in the
heinous attack,four were wounded "said
the statement ,adding that large-scale
operations have been launched to find
the perpetrators ,There was no immediate
claim of responsibility ,

The PKK has for decades waged a deadly
insurgency in  the southeast of Turkey for
self-rule that has claimed tens of thousands
of lives .

A peace process that began in 2013  has
so far failed to yield a final deal..
AFP

SANAA:

At least 35 civilians have been killed and
dozens wounded in a Saudi-led coalition
air raid in southwestern Yemen,medical
sources said Saturday,

Women and children were among those
killed in Friday night strike in the town
of Mokhba ,close to the third city of Taez,
the source said <The raid hit a residential
neighbourhood  where employees of the
town's power station lived ,according to
residents .

They said several houses were destroyed
and that dozens of people were wounded
The Saba press agency ,controlled by the
Huthi rebels  that have seized control of the
capital and much of central Yemen ,reported
that 55 people were killed in the attack
which its denounced as a Saudi crime "

Some witnesses said the neighbourhood
in Mokhba had been targeted by mistake
although others alleged that the Huhtis
had taken up positions in the area,

In March the coalition launched strikes
on rebel positions after the Huthis swept
into Sanaa and pushed south towards the
port city of Aden,where president Abedrabbo
Mansour Hadi had taken refuge before
fleeing to Riyadh,

Coalition jets  carried  out fresh raids overnight
on Huthi positions across Yemen  ,including
around Aden ,military source said,

The United Nations says the conflict has
killed more than 3,640 people around half of
them civilians since late March,
AFP

DUBAI:
Bahrain has decided to recall its ambassador
to Tehran in protest at "hostile "comments by
Iranian leaders,the official BNA news agency
reported on Saturday.

It said the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
(SCIA):'strongly denounced the repeated
blatant Iranian interference in Bahrain's
international affairs in order to shake up the
kingdom 's stability and fan tension .
"Parliament 's foreign affairs committee
had a short time before the announcement
of the envoy 's recall demanded an extraordinary
Arab summit to discuss "Iranian interference."

Last Saturday ,Bahrain summoned Iran's
acting charge d'affaires to protest against
the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ali
Khamenei voicing support for oppressed
people "across the middle East ,including
in Bahrain ,The previous day ,Khamenei
had said the nuclear deal Tehran agreed
with world powers would not alter its support
for the governments of Syria and Iraq,nor
its backing for "oppressed people "in Yemen
and Bahrain ,and the Palestinians.

Sunni-ruled Manama accuses Shiite Iran
of backing opposition demands in Shiite
majority Bahrain for a constitutional monarchy
and an elected prime minister,
AFP

ANKARA

Turkish police on Saturday used water
cannon to disperse a demonstration
in Ankara condemning violence by
the Islamic State (IS ) jihadists ,making
several  arrests an AFP reporter said,

Hundreds of people turned out in Ankara
to condemn Monday 's suicide bombing
blamed  on IS that left 32 dead on Syria
border,as well as denouncing the government
of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

But the police ,who well outnumbered
the demonstrators ,intervened with water
cannon and pepper spray to disperse  the
demonstration

Turkish media reports said that over 30
people were arrested .
Even as it bombs IS targets in Syria
Turkey has in recent days shown little
tolerance for demonstrations against the
jihadists 'campaign of violence ,
The protesters have also angrily denounced
the Turkish government,whom they
accuse of allowing IS jihadists inside
Turkish territory.

The Istanbul authorities on Saturday
banned a planned anti jihadist "peace'
march "scheduled to take place in the
security and traffic congestion,
AFP

HAMBURG:

Rafael Nadal heads back to the comfort
of clay next week as the struggling Spaniard
attempts to resolve the crisis that has gripped
his game.

The 29-year old is top seed at the Hamburg
Open but his decision to play a European
clay tournament with the US hardcourt
season just around the corner has baffled
many .

"Its obvious that the situation is different "
said Nadal on Saturday,"I have lost more
than in the last 10 or 11 years"
In testing 2015,Nadal has seen his world
ranking slump to 10-his lowest in a decade
and lose his French Open title where he had
been champion nine times.

He has already been defeated 12 times this
year,including just a second career loss at
Roland Garros and a second round exit to
German journeyman Dustin Brown at
Wimbledon.

In 2014 Nadal was beaten just 11 times .He was
defeated only seven times in 2013 and lost
a mere six matches in the whole of 2012

I need to accept it is new situation and face
it with a good attitude and keep working
hard to return to a good level"he added
"I feel good ,I don't have any injuries and
that is the important thing" AFP

LOS  ANGELES
Arizona Cardinals rookie receiver Damond
Powell's NFI ambitions were in limbo
Saturday after he was shot outside his
home in Toledo Ohio.

Powell was shot in the face on Friday
night,suffering injuries that police
said did not appear to be life threatening
.
The 22 year-old who was signed by the
Cardinals as a free agent in May ,was
sitting in a car with friends in the driveway
of his home when he was shot shortly
after 8 pm Toledo said,

Witnesses said shots came from a car
and reported seeing three men wearing
in a gold colored vehicle,

"We are aware that Damond Powell was
the victim of a shooting last night in
Toledo ,where  he remains hospitalized
"the Cardinals said in a statement,

"We have been in communication with
his family to offer whatever  support and
resource we can provide ,We will continue
to monitor and provide updates as
appropriate AFP

NEW YORK  Former England international
Frank Lampard will not play in next week's
Major League   Soccer All-Star Game against
Tottenham Hotspur because of nagging calf
strain ,the league announced Saturday,

Lampard has yet to make his debut for New
York City because of the lingering injury
suffered in training just over a week ago.

The 37 year old midfielder ,who spent 13
trophy -laden years at Chelsea which included
a Champions League victory in 2012 and the
Europa League a year later ,was made a
special commissioner's selection to the MLS
all-star squad along with former England
team -mate Steven Gerrard  of the Los Angeles
Galaxy ,Lampard was also chosen for the
matches day roster.

Lampard who scored seven goals in 33
English Premier league matches against
Tottenham ,has twice played in the MLS
All-Star Game when Chelsea faced the
elite US league  squard ,The MLS team
won 1-0 in2006 and beat Chelsea 3-2 in
2012,when Lampard  scored  one goal
and set up the other,

Garber named New York  Red Bull
captain Dax McCarty as a replacement
for Lmapard against the Spurs, giving
the decade-long MLS veteran his first
All-Star nod,

DAKAR  Former Chadian dictator Hissene
Habre was forcibly brought to court Tuesday
on the second day of his landmark trial  in
Senegal but judges adjourned the case until
September to enable appointed lawyers to
prepare his defence.

Habre ,once dubbed "Afirca's Pinchet"is
accused of war crimes,crimes against
humanity and torture during his blood
soaked brands an illegitimate tribunal
The trial,the first time a despot from one
African country has been called to account
in another opened on Monday a quarter
of a century after his  1982--1990 rule
came to an end,

Prison guards brought Habre ,dressed in
a white robe and turban into the special
court in the Senegalese capital Dakar
for the second day .But the 72 year old
refused to speak,

The court appointed three attorneys to
defend him after he refused legal rep-
resentation,One of the three court-appointed
defense lawyers,Mbaye Sene told AFP
that he would "carry out (his) mission
according to the rule book

African Chambers then adjourned the
trial until September 7 to give the lawyers
time to prepare their defence,

Habre backed during his presidency by
France and the United States as a bulwark
against Libya's Moamer Kadhafi,is on trial
over actions under his regime of brutal
repression of opponents and rival ethnic
groups Habre perceived as a threat to
his grip on the Sahel nation,
He risks a sentence of at least 30 years
in prison,AFP

BISHKEK:  Ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan last week
announced it was tearing up a long -running
co-operation agreement with the United States
after Washington awarded a rights prize to a
jailed ethnic minority campaigner.

Central Asian Kyrgyzstan and the United States
inked a co-operation deal in 1993 and the
strategically located nation hosted a key US
military base supplying the war effort in
Afghanistan until 2014.

Kyrgyzstan however ,has pursued a strongly
 pro-Russian foreign policy since incumbent
President Almazbek  Atambayev was elected
in 2011.

Washington warned Monday that any move
to sever the agreement "could put assistance
programmes that benefit the Kyrgyzstani
people in jeopardy"

Kyrgyzstan 's foreign ministry last week
slammed the US state Department's decision
to give its Human Rights Defender Award
to Azimjon Askarov ,an ethnic Uebek.

Askarov was sentenced to live imprisonment
for his alleged role in  inciting clashes between
Uzbek and Kyrgyz  in the south of the country
five years ago,

A number of foreign governments and civil
rights advocates inside and outside the country
have spoken out against the jailing of Askarov
 who was noted for regularly exposing the
excesses of local police in the ethnically
divided region,

The bilateral co-operation agreement is
expected to be officially terminated
from August 20'
AFP

HONG KONG  :Four suspects charged over
an alleged bomb plot in Hong Kong were
denied  bail last week in a case which has
been met with scepticism by pro-democracy
campaigners.

Police made the arrests last month days before
lawmakers voted on a controversial Beijing
backed political reform package which had
sparked mass street rallies at the end of last
year,

Five men and one woman ,aged 21 to 34
have been charged with conspiracy to cause
an explosion after police said they found
explosive chemicals during a raid .

Four of the five men applied for bail but
were denied ,The fifth man also remains
in custody ,The woman had already been
released  on bail.The five men have been
held in custody for more than a month
since their arrest mid June.

"Why did you appear at a place where
explosive were being tested "? Why did
you enter the location?" questioned
magistrate Don So as he denied the bail
applications "Only you were found at
the scene"he added.

Police have said they seized chemicals
which could be used to make explosive
in the June raid and that one of those arrested
admitted to being part of a radical local
group"

Local media named the group as the
National Independent Party and linked
it to a new localist "pro-democracy movement
which is seeking a more independent
Hong Kong,

But activists accused the authorities of
a smear campaign,with many saying they
had never heard of the organisation.
The chemicals were seized at an abandoned
television studio in the eastern district of
Sai Kung  with some detonated  at the scene.

A house led to the seizure of ingredients
which police said could be used to make
TATP ,a highly volatile explosive believed
to have been used in the deadly  terror
attacks in London 2005.

Air rifles and "V for Venetta "style face
masks were also found ,The masks were
occasionally worn by protesters during
the mass rallies and are a symbol of anti
establishment defiance worldwide.

During the suspects first court appearance
on June 17 they accused police of assaulting
them or forcing them to cooperate by
threatening them,the south China Morning
Post reported at the time
AFP

SEOUL'  North Korea is preparing to launch
a new long range rocket ,possibly in October
having completed an upgrade at its main
satellite launch base,South Korea's Yonhap
news agency reported Wednesday,

Any such launch would almost certainly
be viewed  by the international community
as a disguised ballistic missile test and result
in the imposition of fresh sanctions.

Quoting an unnamed government source
Yonhap cited credible intelligence "that
North Korea leader Kim Jong -Un had
ordered the launch of a satellite to mark
the 70"anniversary of the founding  of the
North's ruling Workers ' Party on October
10 .

We think the North will carry out a
provocation around the 70th anniversary
the source said ,The South Korean Defence
Ministry declined to confirm or deny the
Yonhap report,

As to the construction of North Korea's long
range missile launching the North moves
very closely "a  ministry spokesman said,
According to the Yonhap source ,North
Korea has completed work on an extended
67 metre gantry capable of handling a rocket
twice the sizeof the 30 metre Unha 3rocket
launched in December 2012.,

North Korea,which insisted the launch was
purely scientific in nature,responded three
months later by conducting its a third nuclear
test -the most powerful to date..

North Korea is banned under the UN security
Council resolution from carrying out any
launch using ballistic missile technology
although repeated small range missile test
have gone unpunished ,

The upgrading of  facilities at the Sohae
launch centre have been  closely monitored
by satellite imagery analysts at the US-Korea
at Johns Hopkin University.
AFP

BENGHAZI<

At east 40 people have been killed in a week
of ethnic clashes in southern Libya between
rival gunmen from the Toubou and Tuareg
 minorities ,a local official said,

The latest fighting central on the oasis city
of Sabha ,the largest in the Libyan Sahara,
the official said ,
Hundreds of  families have been displaced
he added,
There have been repeated deadly clashes
between the two ethnic groups since February.

The Toubou ,who mainly live in the southeast
straddling the border with neighbouring  Chad
were heavily  discriminated against under
dictator Moamer Kaddhafi and fought in the
2011 uprising that overthrew him.

The Tuareg,who mainly live in the southwest
straddling the borders with Algeria and Niger,
largely  backed the Kadhafi regime.

The chaos that has followed the uprising has
seen mounting competition for scant resources
in the desert south,with Tuareg,Toubou and
Arabs all setting up rival militia,

Deadly fighting with Arabs in Sabha in 2012
prompted Toubou claims of ethnic cleansing
 ,Tensions have worsened since the establish-
ment of rival governments in the capital Tripoli
 and the easthern town of Tobruk last year,

The  Tripoli authorities have armed the Taureg
while the Toubou have backed the internationally
recognised government in the east.

The Tobruk government issued a statement on
Tuesday appealing  to the warring  sides sides
ti "stop fighting and resolve their differences
through dialogue"
AFP

RABAT:  Morocco said eight people were
arrested on Tuesday over alleged plots to
carry out attacks mainly targeting security
officials on behalf of the Islamic state jihadists
group,

The newly formed Central Bureau of Judicial
Investigation,dubbed Morocco' s FBI by media
said an eight -member terrorist cell was
dismantled across the country in the towns
of Tangiers, Bouznika,Khouribga and Taounate,.

The suspects has been in contact with IS
leaders and given refuge to fighters who
had received intensive training in producing
explosives and gang warfare "the interior
ministry said.

It said members of the network,which included
women ,were planing "a series of terrorist
operations' against security officials and
sensitive sites,

They also had links  with former A-Qeada
fighters in Afghanistan ,it said '
Morocco ,which is on guard against deadly
attacks of the type carried out by IS in  Tunisia
prides itself on being a bastion in North
Africa against Islamist extremism with its
anti jihadist unit and training of imams
to  preach tolerance,.

An estimated 1,5000 Moroccans ,however
,figure among the ranks of jihadist group.,
AFP

MAZAR I_SHARIF;

Afghanistan;A suicide bomber killed 15 people
including women and children ,Wednesday when
he blew himself up in a northern Afghan market,
as militants intensify their annual summer offensive
despite nascent peace talks,

The attack in Almar district of Faryab province
,bordering Turkmenistan,highlights the heavy
toll of such attacks on civilians after 13 years
of war

No group claimed responsibility for the suicide
bombing ,which comes just before another round
of peace  negotiations between the government
and Taliban militants are due to start

This morning a suicide bomber detonated his
explosive -ledan vest in a market in Amar Faryab"
Abdul Sattar  Barez told AFP,

Almar district  chief Saleh Mohammad confirmed
the death toll ,adding that some of the wounded
were in critical condition.

We had received intelligence report that a suicide
attacker has entered the market in  Almar ,so we
set up a poce check point to search for him ,
local police commander Saif,who goes by one
name told AFP
AFP,

WASHINGTON;
President Barak Obama on Tuesday
ordered American flags to be flown
half -staff until Saturday in honor
of US servicemen who died in a
shooting rampage in Tennessee last
week.

Four marines and one sailor were killed
when 24 year old Mohammad Youssuf
Abdulazeez  opened fire on two military
centres in Chattanooga,Tennessee,
The gunman died in shoot out with police.

Obama ordered the flags lowered "as
a mark of respect for the victims of the
senseless acts violence,

"I hereby ordered that the flags of the
United States shall be flown at half -staff
at the White House and upon at all public
buildings and grounds at all military
post and naval stations and on all Naval
vessels of the federal government "Obama
said in a statement.

He also ordered  flags at embassies ,consulates
military  facilities and naval vessels abroad
to be flown at half-staff.

"Our thoughts and prayers as a nation
are with the service members killed last
week in Chattanooga,We honor their service
Obama said.

Investigators are looking into motives behind
the killings with authorities probing Abdulazeezs
travel abroad and his communications and
activities on social media

Authorities have said they are treating
the case ,a grisly scene reminiscent of other
shooting rampages at US military in stallations
as an act of terrorism.
AFP

KANO NGERIA:
Suspected Boko Haram  gunmen raided the
village of Nigeria's army chief in northeast
Borno state ,killing two residents and setting
fire to several homes residents said Tuesday.

Dozens of Boko Haram fighters stormed
Buratai  ,the native village of chief of army
staff Major General Tukur Yusuf Buratai,
around 7,00 pm on Monday  night ,shooting
indiscriminately  and forcing  resident to
fee into the bush.

The assault was followed by  a failed
suicide  attack at a military checkpoint in the
town of Biu 25 kilometres away residents
and villages assisting the military in
fighting Boko Haram
AFP

SINGAPORE;Oil prices resumed their declines
in Asia Wednesday following a US report showing
stockpiles surged last week ,with analysts warning
for further weakness ahead,

Ahead of an official report the industry founded
American Petroleum Institute (API) said stockpiles
had increased by 2-3 million barrels last week.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate  for
September delivery fell 70 cents to 50-16 a barrel
and Brent crude for September tumbled 53 cents
to $56.51 in late-morning Asian trade'


Crude prices remain under pressure as the supply
overhang continues to persist"said  Bernard Aw
marker strategist  at IG Markets Singapore.

Wednesday 's official Energy Information
Agency data will be closely monitored although
it is evident that the supply glut problem  is
expected to stay for a while  longer "Aw added.

Oil prices have tumbled from more than $100
a barrel in June last year as strong production
from  the United States and the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting countries led to
supplies outpacing demand,

Concerns over the return of Iranian oil to the
market following a deal with major powers
 powers  on its nuclear ambitions have also
added to pressure on prices

The deal which aims to prevent Iran from
building a nuclear weapon -allow for the lifting
a crippling economic sanctions on the country
,enabling it to ramp up shipments of oil
AFP

LONDON
Manchester United have completed
the signing of Italy right back Matteo
Darmian from Torino,the English
Premier League side announced
Saturday.

The 25 year old defender arrived in
England on Friday for a medical after
a fee was agreed with the Serie  A side
,thought to be in region of $19.7 million
17.7 million euro ,

He was United 's second  capture of the
day after the club earlier announced
they had struck a deal with Bayern
Munich to sign Germany captain Bastian
Schweinsteiger,subject to a medical
and personal terms being agreed with
the 30-year-old midfielder ,

Darmian has penned a four year contract
with  the option to extend for a futher
year.
The Red Devils finished fourth in the
Premier League last season, manager
Louis van Gaal's first in charge at Old
Trafford.
"It is a dream come true  to be joining
Manchester United " Darmain said
When the opportunity  to join the biggest
club in the world came along it.
AFP

GOING THE  DISTANCE :
The secret life of a business woman ,
has been exactly 21 years since I last
sat down  on my private table,

Gone are the long flowing stresses,
in its place is a short  choppy bob,
I got a SECRET to share to anybody
who cares to share ,


I am starting a new project (Business)
that's a total opposite of my business
before ,I think it is the right time for
me to try to do something new,
And I knew that I wanted to do something
different,

I can barely contain my excitement and
its no wonder this new business will
mark my return home,after 21 years
sitting in my wooden shop in Tuaran town,
I definitely  took my  time planing this
project.

With me ,it a feeling that I get when
it's the right one for me ,and I have
been waiting for something to excite me,
Going the distance,No secret stays a
secret for long,and roumers were flying
around the town for some time that,
I was really to open a new big business'.

I have the discussions with the creative
team that this business has to be even
bigger and better than my business before.

If I have not several step ahead of myself
then it's no point doing it,
I have really up against my past success,
So I have thinking of how to better myself..

Compared sitting in the busy town I got to
have more fun been at home to look into
my  new coming project.,

Now challenges' yet it not all fun and games
with me ,My vision to see my "Green House "
Being recognised  as a professional job,
I would  love to be able to focus on just
creating fabulous project ,that make my
family  be proud of,.

And do what I do really well,knowing that
I have full support  and backing of the
system.
But that's still a work PROGRESS<

BY  MARIE  LANS

JOHOR BARU  <KUALA LUMPUR

 A primary school teacher was among
17 individuals arrested in a police
operation in the month of Ramadan
against the sale ,possession and firing
of crackers,police said Wednesday,

The teacher ,in his 30s  was held at about
noon on July in the of Gempur Khas "
operatin when selling fire crackers at
the Majidee night market,said Johor
Baru Selatan Police chief ACP Sulaiman
Salleh,

The 16 other people and unemployed
individuals he told a news  conference.

He said the seized fire crackers and fire
workers were estimated to cost RM10,000.

Sulaiman also said that during the period
the police conducted 146 raid on enterain-
ment houses massage parlours vicdens,drug
addict haunts and motocycle workshop,
resulting in the arrest of 615 people,

"Some 475 of them were Malaysians and
the 140 others foreign nationals,
he said,

BERNAMA

SEJONG
South Korea will actively support local
companies inroads into the Iranian market
after a landmark agreement  was reached
over the country 's nuclear programme,
the government said last week.

The announcement comes a day after Iran
reached a deal with the five permanent
United Nations Security Council member
states and Germany ,easing global concerns
about its nuclear programme in exchange
for lifting sanction reports South Korea's
Yonhap news agency.

 The finance ministry said that it will take
measures to set up a dedicated support centre
to h elp companies wanting to do businesses
in the oil-rich country get vital information.

Seoul will also seek to sign shipping related
agreement expand bilateral customs cooperation
for increased trade and help small and medium
enterprises forgeties with their Iranian counterparts,

It will also move to ink deals that could
facilitate cooperation in science and technology
at the government  and public  institution
levels.

The ministry said once international sanctions
are lifted local companies will be able  to
expand cooperation in the healthcare and
information and communication technology
fields ,as well food and cultural areas,

"To facilitate commercial transactions,
the government will move to reopen financial
transactions and trade-related financing and
credit guarantees the ministry said ,

Efforts will be made to arrange meetings
between South Korea  carmakers ,steel
mills,shipyards ,builders and energy companies
and Iranian buyers that can lead to more
deals,it said

The ministry however ,cautioned that lingering
market uncertainties and excessive competition
to sign deals may be detrimental to local
business interests.

The ministry said it will keep close  tabs on the
lifting of international sanctions, so it can
come up with plans to better assist companies,
BERNAMA

SEOUL:
South Korea 's Posco the world's fifth largest
steelmaker ,unveiled a ruthless revamp of its
business structure Wednesday after reporting
a sharp drop in second quarter profit.

The steel giant said its consolidated  net profit
in the April -June period plunged 76 per cent
on year to 117.4 billion won ($104 million)
due to a global slump and losses among its
subsidiaries.

Operating profit also shrank 18.2 per cent on
year to 6863 billion won and sales fell 9.3 per
cent to 15.2 trillion won
The group,which has a total of 48 subsidiaries
under its wing ,said it would cut the number
of its domestic market businesses by half
and jettison 30 cent of its overseas operations
,
It also promised to liquidate redundant non-
core businesses and save more than 500 billion
won annually through an aggressive cost
cutting campaign,

"We will drastically restructure our business
"to cope with tough market conditions at home
and abroad ,chief executive officer Kwon Ho
Joon said in a statement.

Posco has been struggling with plunge in
steel prices and tough competition with
Chinese steel makers ,It has already agreed
to sell a38 per cent stake in its engineering
unit to a Suadi Arabian fund for $1.1 billion,

Posco share dropped 3.91 per cent to 204,ooo
won on Wednesday-AFP

JAKARTA:
Indonesia recorded trade surplus for the
seventh  consecutive month in June,
official data showed last week due to
a steep fall in imports in Southeast
Asia's top economy,

The country statistic agency said
Indonesia posted a narrower surplus
of $477 million compared to a revised
$1,08 billion recorded in May,

Exports in  June slid 12.70 percent on
year to $13.44 billion while imports
plunged 17.42 percent  down  $12.96
billion from a year before.

"The surplus occurred due to a sharper
decline in imports compared to exports
statistics agency chief Suryamin told
reporters,

Indonesia 's economy has been slowing
recently as the price of its key commodity
exports slips and demand falls in China,
the world's number two economy,

First quarter growth in Indonesia slipped
to 4.7 per  cent ,the slowest in six years
,and the central bank said in a statement
last week that second quarter expansion
would remain "limited"as well due to weak
consumer spending .
AFP

LOS ANGELES;
Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson
was arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles for
drink driving ,his second such citation
within a six -month span, according to
police,Lawson was apprehended  by the
California  Highway Patrol at about 2.30
am local time after driving at high speed
on a freeway,

"We have been notified of an incident
involving Ty Lawson this morning in
Los Angeles" said Nuggets general
manager and executive vice president
of basketball operations Tim Connelly
We will not have further comment on
the matter"

Lawson was  scheduled to appear in
curt on Friday regarding  a January
23 drink driving arrest in Denver but
that could be changed,

He had been given pre-trial supervision
rrlease until that court date but his latest
arrest violates the terms from that earlier
deal

BEIJING;
Wan Li a major Chinese  Communist
political figure who served as vice
premier and who was seen as a liberal
voice in the communist leadership has
died ,state television reported Wednesday
He was 98..

CCTV said among the opening  headlines
of its main evening news bulletin that Wan
Li died in Beijing,

Wan was classed by some analysts as one
of communist China's so called Eight
Immortals ,a reference to a group of elite
elderly revolutionaries who survived the
purges of Maoism and backed the ascent
f Deng Xiaoping -one of their number
to power,

He was chairman of the rubber stamp
legislature National People's Congress
(NPC) for five years from 1988,a tumul-
tuous  time that saw the bloody crackdown
on pro-democracy protestors  at Tiananmen
Square in Beijing in June 1989,

Like many Chinses officials Wan was
persecuted during the chaotic 1966 -1976
Cultural Revolution ,though he was rehabilitated
and became vice premier in the 1980's
before being named head of the NPC

Online Chinese news outlet The Paper reported
that Wan died of illness on Wednesday
afternoon ,citing his son,
A fine tennis player and known for an affabe
personality ,Wan was close to Zhao Ziyang
,the communist party general secretary who was
ousted after opposing the use of forces to clear
Tiananmen Square  of protestors ,Zhao died
in 2005.

Qiao was also widely seen by analysts as
opposing the military crackdown on the
Tiananmen demonstrations though he and
Wan unlike  Zhao apparently were largely
undamaged politically by their stance-
AFP

SEOUL
A Chinese -led consortium was selected
Wednesday as the preferred bidder to take
on the massive task of raising the  South
Korean passenger ferry that sank last year
with the lose of more than 300 lives ,most
of them school children,

"The 6,825 tonne Sewol ferry sank off the
southwest coast in April 2014  A total of
295 bodies were recovered ,but nine remained
unaccounted for when divers finally called
off the dangerous search of the sunken vessel
last November,

The Sewol lies 40 metres down on the sea
bed and bringing it to the surface represent
a substantial technical challenge ii September
and take as long as one and a half years, The
ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said it would
begin negotiations next Monday with the consortium
involving China's state -run Shanghai Salvage
Co.and South Korean firm ,which beat six
other competitors including European and US
firms,Shanghai received  good marks for in
its experience in  salvaging sunken vessels,
including a cruise ship that sank in China 's
Yangze River with the loss of more than
400 lives last month it said,

The ministry said it would talk with the second
candidate -a consortium led by China's state
run China Yantsi Salvage -if negotiations with
Shanghai fail

The Shanghai offered to lift the ferry for 85-1
billion won $74 million) by using a frame built
with metal beams on the sea  floor instead  of
drilling holes  into it's side

"We regarded Shanghai Salvage's  idea as safe
-because  the Sewol's hull remains fragile "
Yeon Yeong -Jin a ministry official in charge
of salvage told reporters.

The overloaded  Sewol was carrying 476 people
including 325 students from the high school
in Ansan when it sank ,Only 75 students
survived,
AFP

KUWAIT CITY,

Kuwait's pubic prosecution has demanded
the death penalty for 11 of 29 suspects charged
over the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque
last month ,a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Al Qabas citing  informed sources said two
of the suspect are currently fighting  with the
Islamic State jihadist group which claimed
the attack,

The June 26 bombing carried out by a Saudi
was the bloodiest in Kuwait's history and
left 26 people killed and more than 200 wounded

Those charged are seven Kuwaitis five Saudis
three Pakistanis 13 stateless people known
as bidoons and another person at large whose
identity is unknown ,the prosecution said
Tuesday,

Twenty -four suspects are detained in Kuwait
and the other five are to be tired in absentia
including two Saudi brothers who allegedly
transported the explosive and are being held
in Saudi Arabia,

A-Qabas said some of the suspects were
also charged with joining a"terrorist"organisation
fighting against the state,Two of the suspects
have been charged with premeditated and
attempted murder.

Two others were charged with training
in the use of explosive  nine with assisting
in the crime and the rest with knowing of
the attack without informing the authorities,
AFP

WASHINGTON
The United State  does not  support the
establishment of an autonomous Kurdish
entity in northern Syria ,the US special
envoy for the coalition against Islamic
state extremist  said  Tuesday.

Kurdish fighters have made gains  in war
-torn Syria  against the Islamic state IS
group notably in land close to the border
in the north with Turkey-triggering concern
in Ankara  that the Kurds might attempt to
establish their own state in Syria.

We don't support and don't think the Kurds
support in northern Syria,a separate government
entity"said retired general John Allen

It is important that a partner that has ultimately
been enabled to defeat Daesh IS does not
become an occupying  forces Allen told a
Washington think  tank.

Turkey has fought a 31 insurgency in its
southeast by the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) which Ankara claims is closely
linked to the main Syrian Kurdish People's
Protection Units militia,

Allen also admitted that some of Washington's
allies in the war with IS would be unnerved
by Tuesday's nuclear deal between the West
and Iran,
AFP

BEIRUT;

A senior member of the Syrian Abrar al Sham
rebel group was killed along with six other
fighters on Tuesday in a double suicide bombing
in norhtwestern Syria a monitor said.,

No group claimed responsibility fr the attack but
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
it was believed to have been  carried out by
group linked in the Islamic state  group,
The Britain-based monitor said seven members
of  Abrar al Sham a conservative Islamist rebel
groups were killed near the town of Salqin,

Among them was Abu Abdel Rahaman Salqin
described  by Observatory chief Rami Abdel
Rahaman as  one of Abrar al Sham 's most senior
leaders"Abrar  al Sham is one of the most powerful
rebel groups in northern Syria and belongs to
an alliance with Al-Qeada affiliate Al-Nusra Front
that has seized most of Idlib  province in recent months,

Despite its conservative ideology ,Abral Sham
is opposed to IS,
In September  2014 47 members of Abrara al Sham's
leadership were killed when a blast hit a meeting
of its top religious and military chiefs in Idlib,
AFP

JERUSALEM

An Israel court sentenced a Palestinian engineer
to 21 years in jail Tuesday for helping the Islamist
movement Hamas as improve the range of rockets
used against the Jewish state,

Dicar Abu Sisi went missing in Ukraine in February
2011 and Israel said a month later that he was in its
custody and would be put on trial,

A court in the southern city of Beersheba convicted
Abu Sisi of several "crimes against the security of
the state an official said,

In particular ,he was said to have helped improve
the range of the homemade Qassam rockets  that
the Hamas has repeatedly fired at Israel from the
neighbouring  Gaza Strip over the years,
AFP

BAGHDAD
Acar bomb blast claimed by the Islamic State
jihadist groups killed at least five people in
the Iraqi town of Khalis on Tuesday official said.

The blast which the top provincial official in
Khalis said occurred outside a reputed local
doctor's housed also left at least 11 wounded
The IS group said in a claim posted on jihadist
forums that the explosion targeted members
of Hasbed al Shaabi an umbrella organisation
for mostly Shiite militias which has been playing
a leading role in the anti-IS fightback .

Khalis lies 60 kilometres north of Bahdad in
Diyala a province which the government
declared free of IS militants January

The jihadists no longer have fired positions there
but have reverted to their old tactics of planing
car bombs carrying out suicide operations or
hit and run attacks.
AFP

NEW  YORK
Its taken 16 years ,but rocker Chris Cornell
is finally getting the spelling he wanted
for his debut solo album
Cornell,announced Tuesday that a reissue
of his 1999 album "Euphoria

Morning "will come out next month as his
originally intended  Euphoria  but with a
significant change of  meaning The former
frontman of Seattle grunge band Sound
garden said in a statement that he had
changed the spelling before the album's
original release"after I listened to some
bad advice

The
album --which incidentally ,stated off with
a song entitled "Can't Change Me" --stayed
true to the hard-edged grunge of Soundgarden
while weering into psuchedelic rock..

The reissued "Euphoria Mourning " will
include the album 's first edition on vinyl
a format that has seen a resurgence in recent
years,

The reissue comes amid a flurry of activity
by Cornell,who is known for his sweeping
vocal range as well as his past struggles
with addiction,

He plans in September to release "Higher
Truth "his first album,of new material
in four years,followed by an extensive
tour of North America,
AFP

LOS  ANGELES<
Emmy-winning actor Harry Shearer will
voice the pious Ned-Flanders and greedy
Mr Burns for the next two seasons of The
Simpsons" after resolving contract dispute
,Variety magazine reported Tuesday.

Shearer ,who said in May that he would
be leaving the longrunning Fox series
 will be back for seasons 27 and 28 after
negotiating a new agreement ,the the
entertainment trade magazine said

Shearer has been part of "The Simpsons"
cast since its debut in 1989

The actor  is the vocal forces behind a
handful of Simpsons" characters-Home
Simpson's neighbor -Fanders,the evil-
billionaire Burns,Principal Skinner and
Burns obsequious manservant Wayon
Smithers,

The series showrunner <Al Jean  thold
The New York Times at the time f Shearer's
announcement that the show did not plan
to kill off the characters,but rather recast the
voices .

In a subsequent interview with Entertainment
,Weekly ,however ,he hinted at a glimmer
of hope that Shearer might return,stating "We
are still hoping he might come back ,Nothing 's
done til it's done,

The show averages 7.7 million viewers on television
in the United State Million more enjoy
"The Simpsons"in foreign  markets,according to
US parent network.
AFP

WASHINGTON

An -F-16 fighter collided in mid-air
Tuesday with a small  civilian
training aircraft over South Carolina
,US officials said ,casting fiery debris
over a wide area,

The Federal Aviation Administration
FAA said the collision occurred late
in the morning ,about 11 miles (20
kilometers) north of Charleston.

Shaw Air Forces Base in central South
Carolina ,via Twitter,said the F-16's
pilot"is accounted for"as local media
quoting rescuers,reported he was alert
and walking
AFP

SYDNEY';
A Serbian war crimes suspect known as
"Captain Dragon" was reportedlly due
to be flown  from Australia to Croatia
Wednesday  to face allegations of torture
and murder after battling extradition
for a decade.

Dragon Vasiljkovic  a paramilitary
commander with a Serbian rebel group
opposed to Croatia breaking way  from
Yugoslavia is wanted on charges relating
to Zagerb's 1991-1995 war of independence

The Belgrade -born 60 year-old ,who has
Australian citizenship,has previously
denied committing war crimes but told
media he trained recruits killed in combat
and interrogated  enemy troops.

Canberra approved his extradition in 2012i
and The Australian newspaper which first
revealed  his identity in 2005 said he
would be put on a pane in Sydney on
Wednesday for Croatia.
 AFP

WASHINGTON:

The US Army is to cut 40,000 soldiers from
its ranks over the next two years at home and
abroad a defense official said  Tuesday in a
move that will raise doubts about its ability
to fight wars,

 Under the cost -cutting plan,the Army will be
down to 450,,000 soldiers at the end of 2017
budget year,even though in2013 it argued
in budgetary documents that going below
450,000 troops might mean it could not win
a war, USA Today said

By comparison ,the Army swelled to 570,000
men and women during the peak of fighting
in Iraq and Afghanistan,the newspaper said.

Some 17,000 civilians working fr the Army
will also be laid off ,the official told AFP
confirming the USA Today report..

The paper quoted a document it had  obtained
and said the cuts are being made to save money.
AFP

ABIDJAN:
Rebel leaders who backed Ivory Coast's
President Alassane Ouattara have been
charged over crimes committed during
the country's post-election crisis in  2010-
2011 soucrces said.

Until now only members of the former
regime have faced justice over the five
months of violence that left more than
3,000 people dead drawing criticism
from the opposition and civil society
groups,.

"From this week more will follow"
a judicial source said  confirming a report
Monday in the Jeune Afrique weekly .
Patrick Baudouin ,president of the
international Federation for Human rights
told AFP there had been around twenty
chargers ,including former pro-Ouatara
rebels as well as militants loyal to ex
president Laurant Gbagbo.

Those charged include Cherif Ousmane
and Losseni Fofana ,two important
commanders during the crisis who now
have roles within the Ivorian securty
forces , a source close to the case told
AFP ,Former general Deorges Guiai
Bi Poin formerly a top figure in Gbagbo
security apparatus has also been charged
the source said.

"All of them have been charged in
proceedings concerning the most
serious crimes committed during the
crisis the source said,

"The charges come just three months
before a presidential election in October
which Ouatara ,who has faced criticism
over his criminal justice record is favourite
to win .AFP

MAIDUGURI
 A female suicide bomber on Tuesday blew
herself up near a military checkpoint in
Nigeria's restive northeastern Borno state
,killing four people ,witnesses said,

The woman alighted near a military check
point in Sabon Gari where she blew herself
up and killed and killed four other people
witness Maikaho Abu told AFP

He said the attack happened at Sabon Gari
village along Gombe road ,some 110 kilometeres
 from Maiduguri,the state capital.

Abdu who is a commercial driver,said two
civilian vigilantes assisting the military
in the fight against BokoHaram Islamist
and two other people were killed ,
Vigilante Yusuf Ardo said the blast happened
around 10.30 am.

"The woman strapped herself with  the
explosive and alighted from the vehicle
some metres away from the checkpoint
as if she had reached her destination,
he said.

A senior military officer,who did not want
to be identified  also confirmed the attack,

"The terrorist killed herself and four others
in  the attack"the military officer told AFP
without giving further details .
State police commissioner Aderemi Opadokun
said two female bombers carried out the
attack,killing three people AFP

NEW DELHI ,
The embattled chief minister of India's
Madhya Pradesh  state Tuesday asked
federal investigators to carry out  an
independent probe into a jobs scandal
after a spate of deaths which opponents
have linked to the scam,

Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested
since 2013 over the so called Vyapan
scandal in which thousands of people
are alleged to have paid bribes in return
for jobs on the state payroll or for places
in education institutes.

But opponents of the Madhayas Pradesh
state government run by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi 's Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) say the scandal is even more
wideranging and goes right to the top of
the administration,

The sudden death of a television journalist
at the weekend while reporting on the
scandal has fuelled allegations of a mass
conspiracy that have been widely reported
by Indian newspapers and broadcasters .

Some reports say dozens of people linked
to the scandal ,whether as suspects in the
inquiry or else as witnesses or investigators
have died in the last few years

While there is little evidence to connect
any of the deaths  or to suggest foul play
,the main opposition Congress has accused
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan of
direct involvement in the scandal from his
time as state education minister and demanded
his resignation,

Chaouhan had previously tried to fend  off
the accusations,saying that an ongoing
inquiry by state investigators would get to the
bottom of the allegations and there was no
need foe s federal probe,
AFP

ISLAMABAD;

Pakistan on Wednesday said Afghan and
Taliban representatives s had agreed to
meet again after landmark through the
night talks aimed at ending the militants
13-year insurgency

A delegation of the Afghan
 High Peace council (HPC,the body tasked
with opening negotiations,met the Taliban
in the town of Murree ,a hill station north
of Islamabad,the Pakistan foreign ministry
said in a statement'

Few details were released about what was
discussed ,but a foreign ministry spokesman
said the talks lasted through the night,
concluding at sehri the traditional pre-dawn
meal Muslim eat during the fasting  month
of Ramadan.

"The participants exchanged  views on ways
and means to bring peace and reconcilliation
in Afghanistan" the statement said adding
that the two sides had agreed to approach the
talks with sincerity and ..full commitment"

The participants agreed continue talks to
create an environment conducive for (THE)
peace and reconcilliation process"
The next round of the talks  will be held at
a mutually convenient date"after Ramadan
which is due to end around July 18AFP

MOMBASA:

Kenya;Heavily armed militants on Tuesday
have attacked a convoy of passenger buses
and their army escorts in the lamu region
of Kenya 's Indian Ocean coast near the
border with Somalia ,official and witneses
said,

The attack took place near the town of Mpeketoni
,which has been the scene of previous raids and
massacres carried out by the Somali-led
and Al Qaeda affiliated Shebab Islamist group

There were no immediate reports of any
casualties'
"They used grenades and heavy guns We
came under intense attack,The bus was sprayed
with bulets but  it is a miracle nobody was hurt"
an eyewitness ,who asked not to be named
told AFP by telephone,

The witness said he was in a convoy
no two buses plus an army and police
escort ,Kenya security sources confirmed
the attack and said a security operation
was in progress with a section of the high
way between the  main coastal city of
Mombasa and Lamu closed off to traffic,

Earlier Tuesday Shebaba militants killed
at least 14 workers in the northeastern town
of Mandera ,another area that has also seen
frequent Shebab attacks IN-mid June
2014 closed to 100 people were killed
in a series of armed
assausts on the town of Mpeketoni and
surrounding vilages,
AFP

COLOMBO

Sri Lanka police Tuesday made the first
ever  arrest of a Supreme Court judge
who was detained in connection with
a alleged sexual assault an official said.

Sarah de Abrew was arrested following
investigations into a complaint that he
tried to force a 39-year - old woman to
have a sex with him on the outskirts of
Colombo and beat her up when she ref
used a police official said,

The judge who is in his 60s was taken
before a magistrate who ordered his
release on personal bail of half a million
rupees ($3800) police said.

"The magistrate also ordered the judge
to cooperate with the  Criminal Invest
igations Department of the Police  and
make a statement a police official said.

"He had previously refused to make  a
statement to the police"
Victor Ivan an author who has written
extensively on the country 's judiciary
said it was the first time Sri Lanka's
history that a judge from the apex court
has been arrested .

Supreme court judge can only be removed
through a complicate impeachment
process in parliament Sri Lanka ,s parliament
was dissolved last month ahead of election
in August,

CAIRO"

Egypt's military killed 241 militants in the Sinai
from July 1-5 the army said Monday including jihadist
from the Islamic state group who launched
spectacular attacks last week.

The military has poured troops and armour into
the peninsula where security forces have been
fighting an Islamist insurgency since then army
chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
ousted president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013

On July 1 jihadist from IS launched blistering
attacks in the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid
,the scene of regular militant attack in which
dozens were killed,
The military said 21 soldiers were killed in those
attacks after several media outlets reported
higher tolls from security officials.

In figures released on Monday by the army
spokesman on his facebook page the military said its
forces killed 241 militants between July 1-5

Four wanted militants and 29 suspected militants
were also arrested .Sixteen crude bombs were
detonated ,while 26 cars and 28 motorbikes
belonging to militants were destroyed over the same
period,the army said,


On facebook the army also posted photographs
of dead militants some even displayed on
military tanks,
On Saturday ,Sisi made a surprise visit to North
Sinai ,where in address  tot troops at a camp
whose location was not disclosed he said the
region was now totally stable,

The jihadists say their attacks are in response
to the bloody repression launched by the
authorities after Morsi 's ouster which has
seen at least 1400 people killed and thousands
more jailed ,

Most of the attacks on security forces are
claimed by a group calling itself "Sinai Province"
Formerly known as Ansar Bett al Maqdis
it changed its name when it pledged allegiance
to IS last November '
AFP

BEIRUT:

Syrian government forces backed by fighters
from Lebanon 's Hezbollah entered the town
of Zabadani on Sunday in a bid to take the
last rebel -held bastion along the Lebanese
boreder.

Elsewhere  at least 30 people including  six
civilians were killed in some of the heaviest
US ed air strikes yet on the Islamic State IS
 group in Syria.

And the jihadist group carried out a double car
bomb attack that killed 11 people in northwestern
Hasakeh city,where regime forces have been
fighting to fend off an IS assault.

Syrian state television and Hezbollah's Al-Manar
station announced the advance into Zabadani on
Sunday ,a day after a major operation against it
began,

"Heroic army forces in cooperation with the
Lebanese resistance took control of the Al-Jamaiyat
neighbourhood in western Zabadani and the Al-Sultana
neighbourhood in the east of the city "state
television said,

"Operations are continuing with  dozens of
terrorists killed and wounded" The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said regime
forces and Hezbollah had entered Zabadani
and intense clashes were underway in the
east and west.,

Army helecopers dropped at least 32 barrel
bombs on the town and were also shelling it
heavily said the Britain based monitoring
group.,
At least 14 pro-government and Hezbollah
fighters had been killed in the past 24 hours
along at least 12 rebels and a civilian it added.

The official Sana news agency said it had
killed "dozens terrorists " a term the regime
uses to describe its armed opponents  Zabadani
was one of the first towns to fall into rebel hands
in early 2012 and is now the oppositions only
remaining stronghold along the Lebanese border
AFP

ATHENS:
Greek's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis
resigned Monday in what appeared to be
a concession by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
to international creditors after his resounding
victory  in a historic bailout referendum,

The shock  announcement came as European
leaders scrambled for a response after Greek
voters said a resounding NO" to further austerity
measures in return for bailout funds in referendum
that could see the country crash out of the
eurozone,

"Soon after the announcement of the referendum
results I was made aware of a certain preference
by some Eurogroup participants and assorted
partners "for my -absence from its meeting"
Varoufakis who had often clashed with creditors
in negotiations over the past months said on
his blog,

It was an idea that the Priime Minister jjudged
to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an
agreement ,For this reason I am leaving the Minister
of Finance today he said,

The euro rose after Varoufakis 's announcement
which was expected to renew hopes that the creditors
the FCB the E C and the International Monetary
Fund IMF could be persuaded back to the negotiating
table despite the country's decisive rejection of the
reforms they were demanding in return for the release
of the final tranche of bailout funds.

In Asian trade,the single currency held up against
the dollar,after dropping in the  immediate  wake
of the vote,
Tsipras said the creditors would now finally have
to talk about restructuring the massive ,240 -billion(
-euro ($267billion)debt Greece owes them--AFP
   

ATHENS,
More than 61 percent of Greek voters on Sunday
rejected fresh austerity demands by the country's
EU--IMF creditors  in a historic referendum
official result from over 95 percent of polling
station showed/.

Thousands of  Athenians gathered in central
Syntagma  Square to celebrate the result despite
warnings that failure to reach a deal with the
creditors  could trigger a Greek exit from
the eurozone ,

"I'm so happy said 37 year old Dina Rousso
adding that she hadn't expected there to be
such a clear margin between the "No votes
and the "Yes" votes
"this is Europe's choice to become what it
should have been in the beginning she said,

"Together we have written a bright page in
modern European history "an elated Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras told the nation in
a television address.

"This is the mandate of rupture with Europe
but a mandate that bolsters our negotiating
strength to achieve a viable deal" he added,

European Commission president Jean Claude
Juncker had said a Greek "No' would be no
to Europe "

The head of the Eurogroup of erurozone
finance ministers Jeroen Dijssel bloem
called the Greek "No result"very regrettable
for the future of Greece,
AFP

SILVERSTONE  (UNITED KINGDOM)

Sebastian Vettel rejected claims that his podium
finish in Sunday 's British Grand Prix was a
Christmas gift ,the former four-time champion
insisting that he and Ferrari had earned third
place on the merit,

"It wad not a Christmas gift,Santa wasn't there
waving me into the pits he didn't tell me which
lap (to pit) said the German driver.

"It was our own decision 'but not  a lot of people
got it right,That is our choice and that is what
we achieved today "Yes without the rain,we
would not be on the podium ,so I think we kept
our heads down and we were patient enough
to wait until the rain poured down properly
at the end.

"And that is England for you It helped us today
We came in on the perfect lap "
Vettel 's success consolidatedd his hold on
third place in the drivers "championship
despite Ferrari failing to match the pace of
the victorious Mercedes team and rivals
Williams
AFP

JUBA,

South Sudan government said Sunday
it was investigating United Nations
allegations that its troops raped then
burnt girls alive inside their homes
during recent fighting in the country's
civil war,

In a report released on Tuesday ,rights
investigators from the UN mission in
south Sudan (unmiss) said the 18 months
old war had been new brutality and intensity
"including gang rape"torture and gruesome
murders.,

"We have read the report and these egregious
act could only have been carried out by
egregious individuals ,Our army punishes
with impunity any acts that deviate from
the normal conducts of war"South Sudan
military spokesman Philip Aguet said in
a statement,

"Our army was created to protect our
women and children ,ensure their safety
and their dignity,If in fact the UN report
is accurate then the few individuals
responsible for this heinous crimes have
brought shame to the SPLA and that will
not be tolerated "he added.

The spokesman said any one deemed to
have participated in these horrifie crimes
will be brought to justice before out court
system and before God"b

Civil war began in December 2013 when
President Salva Kiir accused his former
deputy Rick Machar of planning a coup
setting off a cycle of retaliatory killing
that have split the poverty stricken,landlocked
country along ethnic lines,

The government side the Sudan People 's
Liberation Army (SPLA) launched a major
offensive against rebel forces in April
with fierce fighting in Northern Unity states
northern Mayom  district ,once a key oil
producing area,

"The UN report was based on horrific accounts
from 115 victims and eyewitnesses ,investigators
said they had collected ,at east nine seperate
incidents where "women and girls were burnt in
tukuls (huts)after being gang raped"as well as
scores of cases of sexual violence which included
numerous cases of mothers raped in front of their
children,

Others were simply "shot and killed"after being
gang raped it added  AFP

JOS  NIGERIA

At least 44 people were killed in twin bomb
blasts in the central Nigerian city of Joe,the
country's main relief agency said on Monday
after a bloody week of violence blamed on
Boko Haram.

"At the moment we have 44 dead bodies and
47 others injured from the scene of the two
attacks,said Mohammed Abdusalam from the
National Emergency Management Agency (Nema)

Earlier police in Plateau  state of which Jos
is the capital said at least 18 people had lost
their lives in Sunday night's attacks at a shopping
complex and near a popular omsque,

Discrepancies in death tolls are not unusual
in Nigeria,The police,military and government
authorities have a previously downplayed death
tolls in the Boko Haram insurgency,

There was no immediate claim of responsible
for the attacks but religiouly divided Joe has
been targeted before by the Islamist Militants,

Plateau which falls on the dividing line between
Nigeria's mainly Christian south and mostly
Muslim north, has also seen waves of sectarian
violence that has killed thousands over the last
decade,

Boko Haram has stepped up its attack  in northern
since the inaugutation of President Mohammed
Buhari on May 29 with a wave of raids explosions
and  suicide bombing,

With the latest attacks more than 500 people
have been killed ,according to AFP reporting
On Sunday a suicide bomber blew himself up
inside a church in the city of Potiskum  in Yobe
State ,northern Nigeria killing five worshipers,

Last week ,Islamist militants fighters raided
a number of villages around the Lake Chad
area ,killing more than 150 people as they
prepare in mosque

QUETTA  PAKISTAN;

Gunmen on Monday shot dead Shiite brothers
and policeman at a passport office in the Pakistani
city of Quetta ,official said the latest sectarian
attack to strike the country restive southwest,

The brothers who belonged to the Hazara  ethnic
group that is predominantly Shiite and easily
recognised by their Central Asian features were
entering the city 's passport office along with
their parents when the waiting gunmen opened
fire,

"The boys in their twenties were killed in the
shooting while their parents were wounded
and a policeman who was passing by the site
was also killed,after he shot and wounded one
attackers "senior police offical Abdul Razzq
Cheema said ,

He added that the two gunmen were involve
in the shooting but they had others assist to
them in escaping the scene,

The provincial Home Secretary Akbar Huussain
Durrani confirmed the shooting and the casualties

No group immediately came forward to claim
responsiblity but several such attacks in the past
have been carried out by sectarian outfit Lashka
e Jhangve,which has flourished in recent years
depite being  outlawed,AFP

BOGOTA,
Colombian authorities will this month begin
the grisly task of carrying  out what could
be the largest exhumation of unmarked graves
in the conflict torn country 's history local
media reported Sunday,

Caterina Heyck who is overeeing the
operation for national prosecutors told Eltlempo
newspaper that exhumation would begin July
27 in the Commune 13 neighborhood
of Medellin,

Investigators believe this area in Colombia
's second city has a large number of corpses
of people  killed in the country 's decades
long conflict,

Heyck said the process would be'complex"
because investigators would need to match
any eventual DNA samples to those given by
relatives of missing people ,

The South American nation is still in the
grips of a half century civil war that has
drawn in left wing gurerrillas ,right wing
paramilitaries and drug gangs at various
times killing  more than 220,000 people and
uprooting as many as six million

This no official number f missing people
though estimates put the figure at between
15,000 and 20,000.

The government opened peace talks in
November 2012 with the largest rebel group
,the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC)

It has also  started talks with another leftist
guerrillas group,The National Liberation Army
(ELN) AFP

ANAHEIM ,UNITE STATES;

Fellow Nobel peace laureates joined thousands
of followers of Dalai Lama Sunday to celebrate
the Tebetan spiritual leader's 80th birthday
kicking off a three-day honorary bash in California.

A string of minor celebrities also paid tribute to
the crimson  robed 14th Dalai Lama ahead of his
birthday Monday ,although protesters also gathered
outside the event south of Los Angeles.

"He always says he is just a simple Buddhist monk"
said ant-landmines campaigner Jodi Williams who
won the Nobel peace prize 1997
  who sang a snippet of Happy Birthday to him,

"He may a simple Buddhist Monk, but he is the
most rocking ,compassionate simple Buddhist
monk I know,The Dalai Lama was guest of
honor at the Global Compassion Summit at
the Honda center in Anaheim ,speaking on awakening
compassion "and the "transformative power of
creativity and art"

About 18,000 followers packed into the conference
centre gave him a standing ovation during the three
hour event at which he was presented with an
eight -foot high birthday cake,

Daai Lama does not want any physical gifts
For him this birthday is just like any other day
said Lama Tenzin  Dhonen  founder of friends
of Daai Lama,

"How ever ,if we can help to create a more
compassionate ,kind planet ,that would be the
most beautiful gift of all,added the Buddhist
monk who broke down in tears at one point
in his tribute,

Other speakers  included rapper MC Hammer
,veteran talk show host Larry  King and online
entrepreneur Arianna  Huffington as well as
actors Josh Radnor and William Valderrama,

AFP

MADRID
A wildfire in northern Spain's Aragon region
has ravaged around 8,000 hectares of pine
and brush and forced some 1,500 people to
evacuate their homes local authorities said
Sunday ,

About 500 rescue workers and firefighters
have been deployed to fight the blaze,which
broke out on Sunday ,as well as 26 planes
helecopters,

The flames have not yet been brought
under control, The fire comes during a
heatwave that has gripped Western Europe,
for the past week,with temperatures  in the
region pushing 40 degrees Celsius (around
100 degrees Fahrenheit),

"Expert say that the fire concerns a zone
of about 13,000 hectares and that it could
have already burned 8,000 hectares "
Antonio Suarez a local government official
told public television.

The government said the right flank of
the fire was the most dangerous because
it was close to the dense pine forest ,

Around 1,500 people were evacuated
Saturday ,with most able to return to their
homes to the next day,AFP

BEIRUT;

Four hospitals in the northern Syrian
province of Daraa have been forced
to close in recent days after intensive
government air strikes ,a monitor said
on Thursday,

The Syrian Observatory for human
Rights said at least 18 people were killed
in government strikes across Daraa last
week including in a raid that hit a rebel
check point near a field hospital in the
town of Saida,,

"A member of the hospita's staff was killed
along the three fighters"the Britain based
monitor said,
"The strike damaged  the Saida field hospital
which is the fourth hospital to stop work
within a week in Daraa province because
on intensive government strikes Oservatory
said a hospital run by a charity in the town
of Easthern Ghariyah had also closed its
doors because of 'continuous  regime tar
geting and the need to protect the safety
of our staff.

On June 16 at least 16 people ,most of them
children ,were killed in  Syrian government
air strikes in Easthern Ghariyah.according
to the Observatory,

The monitor said two other hospitals,in the
towns o Naama and Tafas ,had also closed
their doors in recent days because of damage
caused by aerial strikes or fear of further raids,

The Observatory said Wednesday 's government
strikes in Daraa including raids in and around the
town of Saida  that left 13 dead,

Another five people were killed in a barrel bomb
attack in Tafas the monitor said Syria's official
Sana news agency reported that at least 15
terrorist were killed and a bomb making factory
was destroyed in an army operation against terrorist
positions in the town of Saida,

Rights organisations and medical groups have
regularly warned about declining medical
conditions staff have frequently come under
attack during the more than four year conflict,
AFP