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 .

2020 deadline to avert climate catastrophe: experts

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Gunmen attacked a UN convoy today near Zawiyah, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the Libyan capital, a security source in the town said.
	The source was unable to say whether there were any casualties among the seven members of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) who came under attack.
	The British ambassador to Libya, Peter Millett, was quick to condemn the attack on his Twitter account.

Gunmen attack UN convoy near Libya capital: security source

Italy has threatened to prevent vessels flying under foreign flags from disembarking migrants rescued in the Mediterranean in its ports, a source close to the government said today.
	"We can't go on like this," the source told AFP after media reported that Italy's representative to the European Union, Maurizio Massari, delivered a letter to the bloc warning that the country was considering closing its doors.
	Massari is said to have met the European Commissioner for Immigration, Dimitri Avramopoulos, to insist that the latest wave of people saved from rickety vessels in the Mediterranean had meant "the situation has become unsustainable".
	Rome is threatening to deny the landing of boats that have picked up people setting off from crisis-hit Libya and are not flying Italian flags, the reports said.
	Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Italy was "asking certain European countries to stop looking the other way, because we cannot go on like this".
	The threat follows a poor performance ..

Italy threatens to shut ports to foreign boats saving migrants

French President Emmanuel Macron's cabinet today approved his ambitious plans to relax the country's rigid labour laws, the main plank of his bid to bring down stubbornly high unemployment.
	Macron, a liberal who won the presidency on a promise to get France back to work, wants to move quickly to inject flexibility into the labour market while still enjoying a honeymoon with voters.
	Today, Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud unveiled a bill allowing the government to change the labour code using executive orders, to avoid the reforms becoming bogged down in parliament.
	France's labour laws "must help companies to conquer new markets and create new jobs as a result," she told reporters, setting out the measures.
	Parliament will get to vote on the use of the executive orders after the government concludes several rounds of talks with trade unions and employers' groups. The bill is currently expected to pass, given Macron's commanding parliamentary majority.
	The centrist leader launched .

French government fires opening salvo on labour reforms

Moscow "assumes" that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet US counterpart Donald Trump during next week's G20 summit in German, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.
	"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. It wouldn't be normal if they didn't talk," Lavrov told a press conference with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel.
	The G20 leaders will meet in Hamburg, Germany on July 7 and 8.

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

Germany manager Joachim Loew wants the names of any players caught doping to be made public, after Russian football was today accused of tampering with urine samples.
     A year before they host the World Cup, Russian football has come under the spotlight amidst fresh allegations of drug abuse.
     Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, the author of an explosive report into Russian doping, has told German broadcaster ARD he has new evidence suggesting that positive tests taken from Russian players were swopped with clean samples.
     Loew says any footballer caught doping must be named and shamed.
     "It's an ongoing investigation and I don't want to heat the speculation," said Loew in Wednesday's press conference ahead of Germany's Confederations Cup semi-final against Mexico in Sochi.
     "But if it's confirmed, I would like to hear the names being made public.
     "The anti-doping agencies and FIFA (world football's governing body) should call a spade a spade, then we will see ...

Germany's Loew wants dopers named and shamed

Top seed Novak Djokovic passed his first grass court test of the season today, defeating Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals at Eastbourne.
     The Serb is playing a pre-Wimbledon event for the first time since 2010 and will next face the winner from a pair of Americans, either Donald Young or Jared Donaldson.
     The three-time Wimbledon champion got onto court after rain washed out Tuesday's play -- save one game in the Djokovic match -- leaving organisers with a backlog to get through.
     The former world number one claimed his fifth victory in as many attempts against Pospisil, who is now 4-22 lifetime against top 10 opponents.
     "That was the first official grass court match for me this year," Djokovic said. "I'm glad that I came here to Eastbourne. I have had a great couple of days of training with good players, different styles of game.
     "Yesterday it obviously wasn't really enjoyable to see the rain falling all day.
     "But today 

Djokovic passes first grass test at Eastbourne

Next year's Davis Cup and Fed Cup finals will be staged together in Geneva as part of sweeping changes to the team tournaments, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced today.
     A new combined season-ending event, the World Cup of Tennis finals, will be the highlight of a series of historic reforms aimed at transforming the annual national team competitions.
     The Swiss city was selected by the ITF board from a shortlist of six candidates across three continents that included Copenhagen, Istanbul, Miami, Turin and Wuhan.
     The new format is due to start in November 2018 and run for a three-year period as the ITF looks to get the sport's top players to commit to the tournaments on a regular basis in an already crammed tennis schedule.
     "The creation of the World Cup of Tennis finals is at the heart of a series of reforms that represent the most significant changes in the history of Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas," ITF president David Haggerty said in a ...

Geneva to host combined Davis Cup, Fed Cup finals

A tentative deal on nearly USD 600 million in cuts to the UN peacekeeping budget has been reached following weeks of tough negotiations over US demands for a sharp cost reduction, a Security Council diplomat said today.
	The United Nations will spend USD 7.3 billion on peacekeeping in the coming year, down from the current USD 7.87 billion, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
	The United States, the biggest financial contributor to the peacekeeping budget, had sought a nearly USD 1 billion cut to the bill.
	Hardest-hit by the cuts will be the UN missions in Sudan's troubled region of Darfur and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the two costliest operations with budgets that run over USD 1 billion.
	The diplomat said however that there were "cuts across the board" in peacekeeping as a result of US pressure to scale back the budget.
	Washington pays 28.5 per cent of the USD 7.9 billion budget for peacekeeping and 22 per cent of the UN's core budget of USD 5.4 ...

Deal reached on cuts to UN peacekeeping: diplomat

China today donated thousands of guns to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to help Manila in its battle against Islamist gunmen who are holed up in a southern city.
	The small shipment of assault and sniper rifles and ammunition is the first example of Chinese military aid since Duterte threatened to move away from Manila's traditional ally America and seek Beijing's support.
	The weapons shipment, worth some 50 million yuan (USD 7.35 million) "highlights the dawn of a new era in Philippine-Chinese relations", Duterte said.
	Hours earlier, the military said they had found the bodies of 17 civilians killed by the Islamists, self-styled followers of the Islamic State movement (IS) who have besieged the city of Marawi since May 23.
	Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery, have battled for over a month to drive the extremists out of Marawi but the militants have fought back.
	Nearly 400 people have been killed, including 290 militants and 70 troops, according to official 

China donates arms to Philippines for raging Islamist fight

Hong Kong student pro-democracy campaigner Joshua Wong was detained by police today after an anti-China protest ahead of a visit by President Xi Jinping.
	Wong was among around 30 protesters who had staged a three-hour sit-in at a harbourfront statue and were led away into police vans.
	Xi's visit this week marks 20 years since Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain and comes at a time when fears are growing that Beijing is tightening its grip on the semi- autonomous city.
	Protesters had encircled the sculpture of a golden bauhinia flower which became the emblem of Hong Kong in 1997.
	The statue was given to the city by China as a present to mark the handover.
	Some activists chained themselves to the sculpture while others climbed into its petals.
	Police cleared the area and surrounded the statue, leading away protesters one by one.
	Most walked but Wong and young legislator Nathan Law lay down and were carried away from the scene.
	Before the arrests began, protesters ...

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong detained by police

A wave of cyberattacks hitting Europe and North America are similar to last month's WannaCry ransomware havoc, but appear potentially "more sophisticated," the European police agency said today.
	Describing it as "another serious ransomware attack," Europol director Rob Wainwright said there were "clear similarities with the WannaCry attack but also indications of a more sophisticated attack capability intended to exploit a range of vulnerabilities.

Fresh cyberattack likely 'more sophisticated' than WannaCry:

As many as 1,00,000 civilians are trapped in Syria's Raqa, as US-backed fighters battle to retake the city from the Islamic State group, the UN rights chief warned today.
	"The intense bombardment of Al-Raqa over the past three weeks has reportedly left civilians terrified and confused about where they can seek refuge," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement, cautioning that "up to 1,00,000 civilians are effectively trapped as the air and ground offensive intensifies.

Up to 1,00,000 civilians trapped in Syria's Raqa: UN

Danish shipping mammoth Maersk said today it had shut down some of its computer systems after a global cyberattack disrupted operations at its terminals and hindered it from taking new orders.
	A number of Maersk's 76 container terminals were affected and were forced to run on manual systems, AP Moller Maersk chief operating officer Vincent Clerc told AFP, refusing to specify which terminals were impacted because of the "fluidity of the situation."
	"Some terminals that were down this morning are now up and running," Clerc said.
	Maersk's two terminals in Rotterdam, Europe's biggest port, were however "still affected" on Wednesday, Clerc said.
	The port, one of the top 10 in the world, handles more than 461 million tonnes of cargo a year, and welcomes the largest container ships in the world.
	APM Terminals, part of the AP Moller Maersk conglomerate, runs the two terminals at the sprawling port which stretches across 42 kilometres (26 miles).
	India's shipping ministry said meanwhile .

Cyberattack blocks Maersk terminals, new orders

Four former senior policemen were among six people charged today over the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster in England that killed 96 Liverpool football supporters.
	"I have decided that there is sufficient evidence to charge six individuals with criminal offences," said Sue Hemming from the Crown Prosecution Service.
	Former South Yorkshire Police officer David Duckenfield, who was the match commander on the day of the crush, was charged with "manslaughter by gross negligence."
	"We will allege that David Duckenfield's failures to discharge his personal responsibility were extraordinarily bad and contributed substantially to the deaths of each of those 96 people who so tragically and unnecessarily lost their lives," said the CPS.
	Former officer Norman Bettison was charged with four offences of misconduct in public office relating to "telling alleged lies about his involvement in the aftermath of Hillsborough and the culpability of fans."
	Other officers Donald Denton and Alan ...

Six charged in UK over 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster

A court in Kyrgyzstan has jailed three people convicted of orchestrating a bomb attack on China's embassy last year, a court spokesman said today.
	At least three people were wounded when a vehicle driven by a suicide bomber exploded after ramming through a gate at the embassy in the capital of the Central Asian country in August 2016.
	Khasamidin Ismailov was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the court in Bishkek on Tuesday, while Hikmatillo Abdulazhanov and Kunazim Mansirova were both given 10-year sentences, the spokesman told AFP.
	All three defendants pleaded not guilty to charges of helping organise and finance the attack which was carried out by a man whom security services in Kyrgyzstan claimed was a member of an anti-Beijing Uighur separatist group.
	Their lawyers have said they will appeal.
	Kyrgyz authorities have also claimed, without offering proof, that the plot was hatched by Syria-based militants with ties to the ex-Soviet Muslim-majority country.
	Chinese state media 

Kyrgyz court convicts three over China embassy attack

North Korea threatened today to "impose the death penalty" on the South's former president Park Geun-Hye over an alleged plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong-Un.
	Park had "pushed forward" a supposed plan by Seoul's intelligence services to eliminate the North's leadership, Pyongyang's security ministry and prosecutors said in a statement carried by its official Korean Central News Agency.
	"We declare at home and abroad that we will impose death penalty on traitor Park Geun Hye," it said.

North Korea threatens to kill South's ex-president Park: KCNA

Qatar today condemned Saudi Arabia's refusal to negotiate the demands of the kingdom and its allies for ending a crippling embargo on the emirate.
	Speaking from Washington, where he held talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the Saudi position was unacceptable.
	"This is contrary to the principles that govern international relations because you can't just present lists of demands and refuse to negotiate," Sheikh Mohammed said in comments published in Doha.
	His Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir, who is also in Washington, was unbudging yesterday over the three-week-old dispute, which has left Qatar, a US ally, isolated under a trade and diplomatic embargo set by its Gulf Arab neighbours.
	"Our demands on Qatar are non-negotiable. It's now up to Qatar to end its support for extremism and terrorism," Jubeir said on Twitter.
	With the support of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain, the ...

Qatar slams Saudi refusal to negotiate

At least 30 civilians were killed in air strikes on an area of eastern Syria held by the Islamic State group today, a monitoring group said.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not immediately able to say whether the strikes in Deir Ezzor province were carried out by the US-led coalition, or by the Syrian army or its Russian ally.
	They came just two days after a suspected coalition strike on an IS jail in the province killed 42 prisoners and 15 jihadists, according to an Observatory toll.
	Today's strikes hit an area 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Mayadeen, the town where the prison bombing took place.
	Most of Deir Ezzor province is controlled by the jihadists and it has been the target of air strikes by the US-led coalition as well as the Syrian army and Russia.
	The coalition has been hitting IS in both Syria and Iraq since mid-2014 and the jihadists are under growing pressure in both countries.
	Syria's war has killed more than 320,000 people and forced ...

'30 civilians dead in air strikes on IS-held area of Syria'

The European Union today formally rolled over damaging economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, saying Moscow had failed to live up to its Ukraine ceasefire commitments.
	EU leaders endorsed the move last week, charging that Russia had not halted its support for pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine nor put pressure on them to respect a ceasefire brokered by France and Germany which was meant to help end a deadly conflict dating back to early 2014.
	The European Council, which groups the EU's 28 member states, said the decision followed a summit briefing on the situation by French and German leaders Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.
	"This paved the way for the renewal of sanctions for a further six months," a statement said.
	"The Council formalised this decision today by written procedure and, in line with the rule for all such decisions, unanimously," it added.
	The sanctions, which target Russia's finance, oil and defence sectors, will run to end-January ...

EU extends Russia economic sanctions

A Russian military officer fighting alongside Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine was killed and another Russian was captured during recent skirmishes with government forces, Kiev said today.
	A reconnaissance group of the self-proclaimed separatist Lugansk People's Republic clashed with Ukrainian government troops on June 24, resulting in the death of two rebel gunmen, Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement.
	It said that one of the gunmen was a group commander and "professional Russian soldier, Captain Alexander Shcherbak."
	Four rebel militants were captured, including "22-year- old Russian citizen, a resident of Altai region," the statement added.
	The Ukrainian army said today that documents found on the captive indicated he once served under a contract in the Russian army, but it did not say if he was on active duty at the time of capture.
	"He served earlier, but whether he was acting military when he was captured -- I do not have such information," Ukrainian military .

AFP

AFP

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