Ukrainians were today celebrating the first day of visa-free access to the European Union, with thousands crossing the border as President Petro Poroshenko proclaimed a dramatic "exit" from Moscow's grip.
	The move is symbolic for Kiev, where a pro-EU revolt in 2014 toppled the previous Russia-backed government and was followed by Moscow's annexation of the Crimea peninsula sparking a protracted ongoing conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
	"The visa-free regime for Ukraine has started! Glory to Europe! Glory to Ukraine!" Poroshenko tweeted early today as many travellers started crossing the border and posting selfies.
	Only those with biometric passports -- containing a microchip with personal data, including fingerprints -- can take advantage of the visa-free travel for the time being, for stays of up to 90 days every six months that don't include work.
	The exemption does not apply to Ireland or Britain, nor to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, ...

Ukrainians cheer on first day of visa-free EU travel

PTI Automatic

The United States' partners in the G7 club of wealthy democracies vowed today to pursue efforts to curb climate change despite a rift caused by the United States' withdrawal from the Paris accord.
	"G7 countries have crucial roles and responsibilities to our own public opinion, to developing countries and to the planet," Italy's Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti said at the start of a two-day meeting of G7 environmental chiefs. "The international community awaits our message."
	Scott Pruitt, a friend of the oil industry who is sceptical about man-made climate change and was Trump's controversial choice to head the US Environmental Protection Agency, attended the meeting but was due to fly home after the first day.
	With Germany's environment minister, Barbara Hendricks, also departing early and France's Nicolas Hulot not arriving until Monday because of legislative elections, there appeared little prospect of substantial dialogue on an issue which has caused significant tensions 

No sign of healing in G7 climate change rift

US forces carried out a strike today against Somalia's Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda linked group, approximately 300 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu, according to the Pentagon.
	The Pentagon said the operation occurred at approximately 0600 GMT "in coordination with regional partners as a direct response to Al-Shabaab actions, including recent attacks on Somali forces." It provided no other details.

US forces conduct strike against Somalia's Al-Shabaab:Pentagon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called today for the United Nations to shut down its Palestinian refugee aid agency, saying it was responsible for incitement against the Jewish state.
	Netanyahu said he raised the issue during the visit in recent days of Washington's UN envoy Nicky Haley, who has accused the United Nations of bias against Israel.
	"I told her that the time had come for the United Nations to reconsider the continued existence of UNRWA," his office quoted him as saying, referring to the UN Relief and Welfare Agency.
	He said that while millions of other refugees around the world were cared for by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), only the Palestinians have their own body.
	"In UNRWA's institutions, there is a great deal of incitement against Israel," Netanyahu said during the weekly cabinet meeting.
	He also said the agency's very existence "perpetuates and does not solve the Palestinian refugee problem".
	"Therefore it is time to ...

Netanyahu urges UN to dismantle its Palestinian aid agency

French voters went back to the polls today for the first round of parliamentary elections that are predicted to give President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party a commanding majority.
	Macron has enjoyed a political honeymoon since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France's youngest-ever president on May 7, naming a cabinet that straddles the left-right divide and making assured appearances in meetings with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
	But the 39-year-old president has done only half the job. His Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party, which he founded only 14 months ago, needs a clear majority in the National Assembly for him to push through the reforms he promised in his campaign.
	A host of opinion polls show that Macron's untested party could take 30 per cent of the first-round vote, putting it on track to secure a landslide in next Sunday's second round.
	The centre-right Republicans and the Socialists fear ...

Macron eyes victory as France elects new parliament

A Kuwaiti court today sentenced a professed member of the Islamic State group to life in prison for an attack on US troops in the emirate last year.
	Egyptian Ibrahim Suleiman in October rammed his truck into a vehicle carrying three US soldiers, in what the US embassy described as a "terrorist attack".
	The soldiers were unharmed but the driver was lightly wounded when his truck caught fire as a result of the collision.
	Kuwaiti authorities said at the time that police found a handwritten note on Suleiman in which he pledged allegiance to IS. They also said that he was carrying suspected explosives.
	Today's verdict against the 28-year-old is not final and will be reviewed by Kuwait's appeals and supreme courts.
	The supreme court today also upheld a 20-year jail term against Fahad Farraj, reportedly the de facto head of IS in Kuwait and the ringleader of an eight-member convicted IS cell.
	The court also upheld 15- and 10-year jail terms for the other seven members of the cell, five 

Kuwait gives jihadist life for attack on US troops

Irish prime minister Enda Kenny expressed concern today that a proposed alliance between Britain's ruling Conservatives and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) could pose a "challenge" to peace in the province.
	In a phone call with British Prime Minster Theresa May, Kenny warned that efforts to shore up her minority government with the hardline Protestant DUP should not put at risk the Good Friday peace accords.
	"They discussed the outcome of the UK general election and the (British) prime minister outlined the proposed supply and confidence arrangement between her party and the DUP," a spokesman for the Irish government said.
	"The taoiseach (Kenny) indicated his concern that nothing should happen to put the Good Friday Agreement at risk and the challenge that this agreement will bring."
	Before the 1998 peace deal, Northern Ireland was plagued by violence over Britain's control of the province.
	The Good Friday accords led to a power-sharing arrangement between ...

Irish PM expresses concern over May's proposed DUP deal

A former Conservative rival condemned British Prime Minister Theresa May today as a "dead woman walking" as she raced to secure the support she needs to stay in power following a disastrous election.
	May's office was forced to backtrack late yesterday after announcing that an outline deal had been agreed with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to form a government, admitting that talks were still ongoing.
	Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, a member of May's Conservative party, told the BBC: "What we do have now is an understanding of the outline proposals that would underpin that working agreement."
	But the confusion reinforced a sense of chaos at the heart of government just days before Britain starts the complex and fraught negotiations on leaving the European Union.
	May has struggled to reassert her authority after losing her parliamentary majority in Thursday's snap election, which she had been under no pressure to call.
	The Sunday newspapers carried reports ...

'Dead woman walking' May races to form a government

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored and Freddie Woodman saved a penalty as England beat Venezuela 1-0 to win their first Under-20 World Cup title and end the nation's 51-year wait for a global trophy today.
     Everton striker Calvert-Lewin became the third England player to score in a World Cup final after Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters in 1966 -- the last time England won any world title.
     The Young Lions had to withstand a ferocious second-half onslaught with goalkeeper Woodman saving a penalty from Venezuela's Adalberto Penaranda 16 minutes from the end.
     England had the better of the early exchanges with Liverpool-bound Dominic Solanke forcing a save from Wuilker Farinez and seeing a long-range effort go wide in the opening quarter of an hour.
     Venezuela, who have never qualified for the senior World Cup, were making their first final appearance and took time to settle until Ronaldo Lucena's stunning free-kick hit the post in the 24th minute.
     There seemed no danger as ..

Young Lions win England's first world title in 51 years

US President Donald Trump today accused James Comey of cowardice by leaking accounts of his meetings with the president, days after the ex-FBI director testified that Trump sought to derail the Russian probe.
	"I believe the James Comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone ever thought possible," Trump wrote in an early morning tweet. "Totally illegal? Very 'cowardly!'"
	Sacked FBI chief Comey delivered his bombshell allegations at a Senate hearing Thursday, saying in his sworn testimony that he had asked a "friend" identified as a Columbia University law professor to release a memo of his conversations with the president to the press.
	Comey said he had hoped releasing the information via the media would prompt the appointment of a special counsel to handle the Russia probe, a ploy that ultimately proved successful.
	He branded the president a liar and said Trump urged him to abandon the investigation into the former national security adviser Michael Flynn, an allegation ...

Trump accuses ex-FBI director Comey of cowardice over 'leaks'

Search crews in Myanmar have now recovered the bodies of nearly half of those who died in last week's military plane crash, the army said today.
	The Chinese-made Shaanxi Y8 aircraft was carrying 122 people -- soldiers, crew members and children and other relatives of servicemen -- when it plunged into the Andaman Sea on Wednesday.
	Navy ships and fishing vessels have been battling strong monsoon swells to find victims, with the army saying they had recovered 59 by today afternoon.
	"The number of dead bodies found in total is now 59," the commander in chief's office said in a statement, adding 26 victims were pulled from the water today.
	There has been no official explanation for the cause of the crash, one of several deadly incidents involving Myanmar military aircraft in recent years.
	Army chief Min Aung Hlaing was quoted in local media today as saying weather was more likely to be a factor that mechanical failure.
	But while monsoon season brings annual bouts of rainy weather, ..

Half the number of bodies from Myanmar plane crash recovered

US-backed Syrian fighters captured their first western district of the Islamic State group's bastion Raqa today, days after seizing an eastern neighbourhood from the jihadists.
	A statement by the Syrian Democratic Forces said their fighters "liberated the neighbourhood of Al-Romaniya on the western front of Raqa, after two days of continued clashes."
	It said the fighting there had left at least 12 IS jihadists dead.
	Backed by the US-led coalition bombing IS, the SDF's Arab and Kurdish fighters broke through the northwestern district of Al-Romaniya yesterday.
	The alliance is also in control of the eastern neighbourhood of Al-Meshleb, which it captured within a day of first entering Raqa city.
	Held by IS since 2014, Raqa emerged as a key hub for the jihadist faction's operations in Syria, neighbouring Iraq, and beyond.
	The SDF has spent seven months tightening the noose on the city before finally entering it on Tuesday.
	More than 320,000 people have been killed since Syria's ...

US-backed force says seized first western district in Raqa

Seif al-Islam, the second son and heir apparent of the late deposed Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, is said to have been freed in Libya after more than five years in captivity.
	The Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Brigade, a militia that controls the town of Zintan in western Libya, said Seif al-Islam was freed late on Friday, under an amnesty law promulgated by the parliament based in the country's east during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
	"He is now free and has left the city of Zintan," the group said in a statement on its Facebook page.
	There was no independent confirmation of Seif al-Islam's release, which could spark further instability in a country already wracked by divisions and violence.
	Seif al-Islam had been held in Zintan since November 2011, just days after his father was killed in a NATO-backed uprising against his decades-long rule.
	The Zintan militia, which opposes Libya's UN-backed government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital, had refused to hand him over to ...

Kadhafi's son Seif 'set free' in Libya

Iran has sent five planes of food to Qatar, Iran's national carrier told said today, days after Gulf countries cut off air and other transport links to the emirate.
	"So far five planes carrying perishable food items such as fruit and vegetables have been sent to Qatar, each carrying around 90 tonnes of cargo, while another plane will be sent today," Iran Air spokesman Shahrokh Noushabadi told AFP.
	"We will continue deliveries as long as there is demand" from Qatar, Noushabadi added, without mentioning if these deliveries were exports or aid.
	Three ships loaded with 350 tonnes of food were also set to leave an Iranian port for Qatar, the Tasnim news agency quoted a local official as saying.
	The port of Dayyer is Iran's closest port to Qatar.
	In the biggest diplomatic crisis in the region in years, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, plus Egypt and Yemen, on Monday announced they were cutting all ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremism.
	Iran has urged .

Iran has sent five planes of food to Qatar: airline

A car ploughed into a crowd outside Amsterdam central station, injuring eight people - two of them seriously, Dutch police said, adding it appeared to have been an accident.
	"The suspect has been interviewed, and it appears not to have been intentional. But we are investigating further," Amsterdam police said on their Twitter account.
	Eight people had been hurt, "two of them seriously," the police said in a tweet, adding the driver was under arrest after his car hit the crowd and then crashed into a wall.
	The news came a week after three attackers in a van mowed down pedestrians in London before going on a stabbing spree, killing eight people and injuring 48.
	Dutch media reported the Amsterdam incident happened when police approached a black Peugeot which was badly parked, and the driver tried to speed away.
	Several ambulances and police were swiftly on the scene on the busy streets outside the station in the heart of the canal-lined Dutch capital. Two people were taken to ...

8 hurt as car hits crowd outside Amsterdam station

Farmers and fishermen displaced by Boko Haram violence in northeast Nigeria want to return home, saying it will help ease chronic food shortages for the remote region's starving millions.
	Subsistence agriculture is a lifeline in the northeast but the eight-year Islamist insurgency has devastated activities, causing a desperate lack of food and sky-high prices.
	Many farmers and fishermen have either been killed or fled to camps for the displaced, where they are dependent on food aid, or to live with friends and distant relatives.
	Aid agencies say a severe funding shortfall is affecting feeding programmes, despite high levels of severe acute malnutrition and repeated warnings that famine is a possibility.
	The head of the Lake Chad fishermen's union, Labbo Tahir, said: "No amount of food aid can adequately feed us.
	"The only way out of this unending starvation is for us to return home, grow our own food and rebuild our lives," he told AFP.
	Ibrahim Mammadu used to grow rice and ...

Boko Haram food crisis: farmers call to return home

Jeff Sessions, a longtime senator until President Donald Trump picked him as US attorney general, heads to Congress this coming week when he will face a grilling about his Russian interactions.
	Sessions, among the earliest high-profile backers of Trump's election campaign, appears before his former colleagues Tuesday, days after explosive testimony by ousted FBI director James Comey, whose removal he recommended.
	Concerns have been raised about whether Sessions helped otherwise subvert the ongoing Russia-related investigations.
	"This is going to prompt a lot of questions for him," the panel's top Democrat, Senator Patrick Leahy, told AFP of an appearance in which lawmakers will be eager to learn what role Sessions played in Comey's firing last month.
	The Senate Appropriations Committee had called in the attorney general to testify about budget issues. But yesterday, after senators made clear they would zero in on Sessions's connections to Russia, Sessions shifted his plan, opting .

US attorney general next in scandal's spotlight

Germany ran up an expected goal avalanche in thrashing San Marino 7-0 as Harry Kane celebrated his first start as England captain with a late equaliser to deny Scotland.
     Having already trounced San Marino 8-0 in the reverse fixture, Germany's almost second string line-up quickly set about running up another rugby score in Nuremberg.
     Julian Draxler opened the scoring on 11 minutes before a brace from Sandro Wagner had the Germans 3-0 up before the half hour mark.
     Amin Younes added the fourth seven minutes before the break while Shkodran Mustafi added a fifth two minutes after the restart.
     Julian Brandt made it six 18 minutes from time before Wagner completed his hat-trick on 85 minutes as Germany continued their perfect start to qualifying, a feat matched only by Switzerland in Group B.
     In Glasgow, Kane marked his first match as captain with an equaliser three minutes into injury time in a match between old enemies that burst into life in the dying moments.
    

Germany hit seven as Kane saves England's blushes

Eoin Morgan said the potential of Ben Stokes is "through the roof" after having the best view in the house as the all-rounder's stunning century helped England knock Australia out of the Champions Trophy.
     England, already through to the semi-finals of a tournament featuring the world's top eight one-day international sides, were reeling at 35 for three chasing a target of 278 at Edgbaston on Saturday.
     But in a match their arch-rivals had to win to join them in the last four, Stokes, with an ODI best 102 not out, and England captain Morgan (87) put on 159 for the fourth wicket at better than a run-a-ball.
     By the time a second rain interruption saw the game called off, England were 240 for four off 40.2 overs and won by 40 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
     A previous rain break gave Morgan and Stokes time to assess their approach after a top-order collapse threatened to undo England's earlier good work in restricting Australia to 277 for nine, with fast ...

Stokes can 'go through roof' after downing Australia - Morgan

Maria Sharapova withdrew from Wimbledon after failing to recover from a thigh injury, dealing another blow to the superstar's bid to rebuild her career following a doping ban.
     The 30-year-old Russian, who was champion at the All England Club in 2004, was due to play in the qualifying event in the hope of making the main draw.
     "After an additional scan, the muscle tear that I sustained in Rome will unfortunately not allow me to compete in the grass court tournaments I was scheduled to play," she said in a statement.
     "I will continue to work on my recovery and my next scheduled tournament is in Stanford from July 31."
     The former world number one returned from a 15-month doping ban in April but has relied on wildcards to get into tournaments because her world ranking points expired while she was banned.
     At the moment the five-time Grand Slam title winner is ranked at 178.
     She was initially banned for two years for using meldonium, with the penalty later ...

Injured Sharapova out of Wimbledon

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko will head to Wimbledon as the sport's newest star admitting that she once believed grass courts were suitable only for football and not tennis.
     The 20-year-old Latvian stunned favourite and world number four Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 yesterday to become tennis's most unlikely Grand Slam champion.
     It was her first career title as she became the lowest- ranked winner in Paris, taking the trophy in just her eighth major appearance.
     Next up on the Grand Slam circuit is Wimbledon where Ostapenko was junior champion in 2014.
     However, she admitted that when she came across a grass court for the first time, it was hardly love at first sight.
     "When I first played on grass I didn't like it, I really didn't understand it," she told a small group of reporters following her shock Paris win as she recalled playing on grass at Roehampton in England as a 15-year-old.
     "I didn't see how people could play tennis on it. I thought grass .

AFP

AFP

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