Cricket Australia has sent a formal letter to warring players officially informing them they will be unemployed if a deal is not reached this week in their protracted pay dispute.
	Amid reports that Australia's cricketers will decide this weekend whether their image rights are sold offshore, CA high performance manager Pat Howard has warned they must seek permission to play in other Twenty20 leagues.
	Months of bitter negotiations are coming to a head before the current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) expires on Friday with players to be unemployed if there is no resolution.
	Coming tours to Bangladesh and India are also at risk along with England's showpiece Ashes tour to Australia later in the year.
	With the increasing likelihood of no agreement, media are reporting that some players will seek employment in foreign T20 leagues if they are left without a contract.
	CA has warned players that if they sign with competing sponsors they will not be offered new contracts, The ...

Australia warn players as pay row deadline looms

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The next US election is still more than 1,200 days away, but Donald Trump is already drumming up cash to pay for his campaign -- and chose the Trump International Hotel, two steps from the White House, as a fundraising venue.
	Yesterday, the 45th president of the United States took part in a dinner benefiting the Republican Party and his own re-election bid, with a seat at the table reportedly starting at USD 35,000 -- and rising to USD 100,000 for super donors.
	The White House is upfront about the president's intention to seek a second term.
	"Of course he is running for re-election," Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Wednesday when quizzed on the topic.
	"But right now, he is focused on his agenda, focused on the midterms, and raising money for the party," she said. "I don't think that's abnormal for any president."
	The US leader himself has often referred to his plans for the eight years to come.
	While the phenomenon leaves many uncomfortable, it has long 

Trump raises funds for Trump at the Trump Hotel

South Korea's President Moon Jae-In arrived in Washington on his first overseas trip since taking office, for planned talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump.
	Moon, who backs engagement with nuclear-armed North Korea, was to meet Thursday with Trump during his first foreign outing since being sworn in last month after a landslide election win.
	Late last week, he was scheduled to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a war memorial in Quantico, Virginia, and later was to attend summit of Korean and American business leaders.
	His agenda today includes meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and an evening visit with the US president and First Lady Melania Trump, including a reception and dinner.
	Washington, South Korea's security guarantor, has more than 28,000 troops in the country to defend it from its bellicose neighbor, which has been intensifying missile tests -- including five since Moon's inauguration.
	Pyongyang is seeking to develop nuclear-capable ballistic missiles .

S Korea president arrives in Washington

John Kelly said evolving terror threats made it imperative to raise security standard for airlines from all countries

In-flight security: US to tighten rules, hold off laptop ban expansion

North Korea delivered a rare statement at the UN Security Council, accusing the United States of attaching "unjust" conditions to its offer of talks on Pyongyang's military programs.
	Deputy Ambassador Kim in Ryong yesterday said it would be a "fatal miscalculation" by countries to believe that the latest sanctions imposed by the council will deter North Korea from developing its nuclear forces.
	"Their mean and indiscreet act would go in just the opposite direction to  what they want," said Kim during a debate on non-proliferation chaired by Bolivia, this month's council president.
	"The US kept saying about 'dialogue' even at this moment" when the sanctions were adopted, Kim said.
	"But it does not make sense to profess about dialogue with unjust preconditions attached and by applying maximum pressure."
	The United States has said it is willing to talk to North Korea if it halts its missile and nuclear tests.
	This month, the council put 14 North Koreans and four entities on a ...

North Korea takes aim at US offer of talks in rare UN

The World Bank raised USD 500 million to finance rapid response to disease outbreaks, including through sale of its first-ever "pandemic bonds," the bank announced.
	Drawing on the slow response to the 2013 Ebola outbreak in Africa in which thousands died, the World Bank designed the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), to channel surge funding to developing countries facing the risk of a pandemic.
	"With this new facility, we have taken a momentous step that has the potential to save millions of lives and entire economies from one of the greatest systemic threats we face," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.
	"We are moving away from the cycle of panic and neglect that has characterized so much of our approach to pandemics."
	The fund will provide USD 500 million over the next five years through a combination of sales of the bonds and derivatives, cash and future commitments from donor countries, the World Bank said in a statement. Germany provide an .

World Bank raises $500 mn with 'pandemic bonds'

President Xi Jinping arrives in Hong Kong today to mark 20 years since it was handed back to China by Britain, a trip that has already riled democracy activists in the politically divided city.
	The three-day visit is his first since becoming leader in 2013 and comes at a time when there are growing fears that Beijing is threatening semi-autonomous Hong Kong's freedoms.
	Leading pro-democracy campaigners including Joshua Wong were arrested yesterday night after staging a protest outside the convention centre that will host some of the anniversary events, a stone's throw away from the hotel where Xi will be staying.
	The surrounding area has been cordoned off by giant water-filled barricades and police have said they are taking "counter terrorism security measures" to ensure Xi's safety.
	Protesters are likely to be restricted to zones well away from the official celebrations.
	Animosity towards Beijing has grown in recent years, particularly among young people.
	The failure of mass ...

China's president Xi in landmark visit to Hong Kong

Asian migrants working as domestic staff and farmers are stranded in Saudi Arabia -- potentially illegally -- after their Qatari bosses were ordered out of the kingdom, a rights group said today.
	The workers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal have been left without accommodation and money, said the head of Qatar's National Human Rights Committee.
	"There are a lot of migrant workers affected by this decision," said committee chairman Ali bin Smaikh Al-Marri.
	Many of those affected were farmers who drive livestock between the two countries, said Marri.
	"Usually the workers travel with Qataris -- many Qataris employ farmers and travel with their domestic workers and drivers," he told a news conference.
	"The workers were not allowed to travel into Qatar and now they are living illegally in Saudi Arabia and do not have basic needs.
	"They have no shelter and cannot access money."
	On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain announced they were ...

Asians stuck in Saudi after Qatari bosses ordered out

Gunmen attacked a UN convoy near Libya's capital and abducted seven staff members today before releasing them unharmed, a top security official in the conflict-wracked country said.
	General Najmi al-Nakoua of the presidential guard service said the attack on the convoy took place near Zawiyah, about 50 kilometres west of the capital Tripoli.
	"They have been released, they are all safe," after an ordeal lasting only a few hours, he told AFP.
	The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) confirmed the incident, saying "a UN convoy was hit today travelling between Surman and Tripoli" and added that it was later able to contact them and find out they were safe.
	Lawmaker Abdallah al-Lafi, who was involved in the negotiations leading to the release of the UN personnel, said they were all "in good health".
	But he said they were still with him at a police station in Surman, about 70 kilometres west of Tripoli, awaiting their transfer to the capital.
	Lafi said the UN convoy was ...

Gunmen attack UN convoy in Libya, briefly hold staff

Israel hit Syrian regime positions tonight after stray mortar fire struck the occupied Golan Heights, in the third such exchange within a week.
	A military spokeswoman said a mortar round hit open ground in the Israeli-controlled zone of the plateau and "forces responded and targeted the Syrian army position that fired the mortar."
	She did not say if the Israeli retaliatory fire came from ground or air forces.

Israel forces hit Syria army after new stray fire

Police in Poland said they had evacuated passengers from a train travelling from Warsaw to Berlin today after receiving a bomb threat.
	The train stopped in Mogilno, western Poland, after Poland's state railways received an email with the bomb threat.
	"We've evacuated several hundred people from the train," Mogilno police spokeswoman Magdalena Pollack told AFP.
	"A bomb squad is checking whether this is a false alarm," she added.
	Unlike several countries in Western Europe, Poland has no recent history of terrorism.

Train evacuated in Poland after bomb threat: police

Russia "assumes" that President Vladimir Putin will meet his US counterpart Donald Trump during next week's G20 summit in Germany, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.
	Any such meeting would see the presidents address "several questions", Lavrov said, without elaborating other than to add that "above all, we must normalise dialogue" with Washington.
	"We assume that a meeting will take place, given that the two presidents will be in the same town at the same time, same building, even the same room," Lavrov said at a press conference with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel.
	"It wouldn't be normal if they didn't talk," the top Russian diplomat added.
	The G20 leaders will meet in Hamburg on July 7 and 8.
	Gabriel welcomed the possibility that the summit could bring Trump and Putin, who have yet to meet, together.
	During last year's US presidential campaign, Trump often suggested he wanted improved ties with Russia.
	At the end of March, Putin said he was ready to meet with .

Russia 'assumes' Trump, Putin will meet at G20: Lavrov

Seven members of the UN mission in Libya were freed unharmed hours after gunmen attacked their convoy near Tripoli and detained today, a senior security official said.
	"They have been released, they are all safe and are currently en route to Mitiga airport" in the capital, General Najmi al-Nakoua of the presidential guard service told AFP.

UN staff in Libya freed unharmed after convoy attacked:

Israeli troops shot dead an armed Palestinian who posed an "immediate threat" to them today during an operation to search for weapons in the occupied West Bank, the army said.
	The military statement did not say if he opened fire at soldiers and did not report any injured Israelis.

Israeli troops shoot dead armed Palestinian in W.Bank: army

A top Qatari human rights group said today it will employ Swiss lawyers to seek compensation for those impacted by the decision of Gulf countries to cut ties with the emirate.
	Ali bin Smaikh Al-Marri, chairman of Qatar's National Human Rights Commission, said his group would take action against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which cut ties with Qatar this month.
	"We'll be coordinating to start legal action with those affected by these sanctions," Marri told a news conference.
	"The three countries are responsible to compensate those affected," he said, adding many Qataris qualified for compensation.
	"Some cases will be filed in courts in those three countries and in some courts that have international jurisdictions, like in Europe, related to compensation."
	Marri refused to say which Swiss firm would be employed, but said a statement would be released in the near future.
	On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain announced the ...

Qataris hire Swiss lawyers to sue Gulf 'siege' states

Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro put the military on alert today against an alleged coup after a renegade police detective claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on the Supreme Court, demanding the embattled president quit.
	Four grenades were hurled at the high court from a helicopter and bullets were fired at the interior ministry yesterday, Maduro said, in a potentially dramatic escalation of the violence gripping the oil-rich South American country.
	The attack was claimed in a video released online by a man identified by media and the government as 36-year-old Oscar Perez.
	Beyond his police work, Perez has acted in a Venezuelan action film, "Suspended Death," and has posted photographs on social media of himself posing with weapons.
	"We are a coalition of military, police and civilian public servants... Opposed to this transitional, criminal government," said Perez, flanked by four masked figures in black, two of them holding rifles.
	Maduro has for months been fending ...

Venezuela vows to fend off 'coup' after grenade attack

Suspected acute diarrhoea has killed 38 Sudanese in the past month and 317 since August 2016, the UN said today, warning the outbreak could worsen ahead of the rainy season.
	The UN children's agency -- or UNICEF -- said cases of suspected acute diarrhoea were reported across 12 of the North African country's 18 states during this period.
	"Over 16,600 cases of acute watery diarrhoea in the past 10 months alone were reported with 317 deaths, which is a rate double than the alert level," UNICEF said, raising a previous death toll of 279 reported by UN agencies in late May.
	The central state of White Nile was the most affected, UNICEF said in a statement, with more than 5,800 reported cases.
	"In the White Nile state, with almost 1,00,000 refugees living mostly in camps, the situation could worsen as the rainy season begins," the statement quoted UNICEF Sudan representative Abdullah Fadil as saying.
	"This is deeply worrying."
	The other most affected states were East Darfur, North ...

Suspected diarrhoea kills 38 Sudanese in one month: UN

Nearly 80 police officers were injured in two days of clashes with protesters in Morocco's restive Rif region, an official said today, although the number of demonstrators hurt was unknown.
	Around 50 members of the security forces were hurt on Monday in the northern city of Al-Hoceima, most of them struck by stones, a high-ranking interior ministry official told AFP.
	Yesterday, 29 police officers were injured during new clashes in the neighbouring town of Imzouren, the same source said, adding that they were all later released from hospital.
	The Rif region has been rocked by unrest since a fishmonger was crushed to death in a rubbish truck in October as he tried to retrieve swordfish confiscated for being caught out of season.
	In the eight months since then, demands for justice and anger over the region's perceived marginalisation snowballed into a grassroots movement centred on Al-Hoceima.
	Clashes broke out in Al-Hoceima again on Monday, with activists saying police had blocked .

Nearly 80 police hurt in latest Morocco unrest: official

As his Republican Party seeks to revamp a health care reform bill that was dead on arrival in the Senate, President Donald Trump admitted today that making good on his campaign pledge to overhaul Obamacare is no easy task.
	Yesterday, the Republican majority in the Senate -- faced with a revolt from within its ranks -- was forced to postpone a vote on its health care bill until after the July 4 Independence Day recess.
	Since 2010, Republican lawmakers have worked to dismantle Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare -- the signature domestic policy achievement of Trump's Democratic predecessor.
	But even after July 4, the outcome of the vote is far from certain, with at least nine Republican senators publicly opposing the bill in its current form.
	Trump -- who met with senators after Tuesday's legislative setback -- put on a brave face Wednesday, promising an insurance system that is "far better than Obamacare" and "much less expensive" for Americans and 

Trump admits health care reform is 'tough'

Pope Francis today created five new cardinals in a Vatican ceremony that, while deeply traditional in form, also reflected his vision of a reshaped Church for the 21st century.
	Four of the five new cardinals come from countries that have never had a cardinal before: El Salvador, Laos, Mali and Sweden. The fifth is from Spain.
	In a hard-hitting homily, Francis told them they should regard themselves as servants of the most vulnerable and not be misled by the traditional description of cardinals as the 'Princes of the Church'.
	The world they had to deal with, Francis said, was "the innocent who suffer and die as victims of war and terrorism; the forms of enslavement that continue to violate human dignity even in the age of human rights; the refugee camps which at times seem more like a hell than a purgatory; the systematic discarding of all that is no longer useful, people included."
	Experts say Francis's latest choice of cardinals reflects his desire to reach out to the peripheries 

Pope Francis injects new blood into cardinals club

Humanity must put carbon dioxide emissions on a downward slope by 2020 to have a realistic shot at capping global warming at well under two degrees Celsius, the bedrock goal of the Paris climate accord, experts said today.
	A world that heats up beyond that threshold will face a crescendo of devastating impacts ranging from deadly heatwaves to mass migration caused by rising seas, the experts warned in a commentary published in the science journal Nature.
	With 1.0 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming so far, ice sheets that could lift oceans by a dozen metres are melting more quickly, coral reefs are dying from heat stress, and ever more damaging storm surges are hammering coastal communities.
	The transition to cleaner energy sources is well underway and is backed by broad consensus on the need to beat back the threat of climate change -- with the notable exception of the United States under President Donald Trump.
	After rising for decades, global emissions of carbon .

AFP

AFP

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