An internal probe has found the security contingent in Nice was "not undersized" on the night of the Bastille Day truck attack that killed 84 people, the French authorities said Wednesday.
	Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve ordered the investigation as the government faced fierce criticism from the opposition over security for the July 14 event.
	The head of the national police internal affairs division, Marie-France Moneger-Guyomarc'h, described the squabble as "the result of poor understanding and interpretation of information."
	She said that 64 national police and 42 municipal police were deployed to secure a fireworks display on the Nice seafront for the July 14 national holiday.
	A truck driven by Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, rammed into the revellers, killing 84 and injuring more than 300. Bouhlel was shot dead by police.
	Opposition politicians had contested the figures for police deployment, with regional president Christian Estrosi slamming "state ...

Police numbers adequate on night of Nice massacre: probe

PTI Automatic

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe today launched a blistering attack on anti-government activists, foreign embassies and disaffected war veterans as he sought to assert his grip on power following recent protests.
	Mugabe addressed thousands of supporters outside the headquarters of the ruling ZANU-PF party, issuing a clear threat to Evan Mawarire, the pastor who has become the figurehead of a new opposition movement.
	"The Mawarires. I want to warn them very strongly," Mugabe said in a fiery 45-minute speech.
	"ZANU-PF will not tolerate any nonsense.
	"Once you begin to interfere with our politics, you are courting real trouble.
	"We know how to deal with our enemies who have been trying to bring about regime change."
	Mugabe, who took power in 1980 and is now aged 92, has often used his security forces to crack down ruthlessly on any sign of dissent in Zimbabwe.
	But a wave of street demonstrations and strikes has shaken his government, which has run out of money and is struggling .

Mugabe fights back after Zimbabwe protests

Morocco today announced the arrests of 52 suspects planning to set up a branch of the Islamic State jihadist group and carry out attacks in the North African country.
	The suspects have been detained and will go on trial once an investigation has been completed, the interior ministry said.
	"The arrested individuals planned to set up a vilayet (province) in Morocco affiliated to Daesh," it said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
	It said the arrests had foiled "terrorist plots at a very advanced stage of preparation on prisons, security establishments, festivals and leisure centres in several cities of Morocco, apart from assassinations of security officials, soldiers and tourists".
	The suspects had been using social media to drum up propaganda for IS and to enrol young recruits to join up and travel to conflict zones, the ministry said.
	It said raids on homes had unearthed documents on the fabrication and use of explosives and firearms, as well as books inciting suicide ...

Morocco says 52 arrested planning to set up IS branch

Air travel bookings to France have fallen by a fifth for August and September following the deadly jihadist attack in Nice, a specialist in traveller data said today.
	Even before the July 14 attack, flight reservations to France were down by 16 percent for the two months compared to the same period in 2015 due to the Paris attacks in November, ForwardKeys said.
	The Spanish-based company has access to databases of more than 200,000 online and physical travel agencies.
	For Nice alone, air bookings from abroad have slumped 19 percent after the Bastille Day attack. They had already been projected to fall by 14 percent, ForwardKeys said in a statement.
	It also studied the flow of international tourists in the immediate aftermath of the Nice attack, in which a truck driven by Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, rammed into Bastille Day revellers, killing 84 and injuring more than 300.
	"As an immediate reaction, international visitor arrivals in Nice dropped by 9.4 ...

Nice attack further hits air bookings to France: study

Warning of humanitarian catastrophe in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, the UN's aid chief today called for scaling up efforts to address Africa's fastest growing refugee crisis.
	More than 2.8 million people have been displaced in northeastern Nigeria and parts of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, fleeing attacks by Boko Haram Islamists who have ransacked villages across the poverty-stricken region.
	"If we do not act now, the human suffering will only get more extreme," Stephen O'Brien told a Security Council meeting called to discuss the crisis.
	"We have to stop this - we can with will, money, urgency and coordination."
	More than nine million people are in need of urgent food aid in the region - seven million of them in Nigeria.
	The UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs stressed that Boko Haram's violent campaign "is as much or now even more a humanitarian catastrophe as it is a security priority."
	Boko Haram has coerced more than 50 children to carry out suicide ...

UN raises alarm over humanitarian catastrophe in Chad region

The Kremlin today denied Moscow was interfering in the US election campaign after President Barack Obama refused to rule out that Russia could be trying to sway the vote in favour of Donald Trump.
	Hillary Clinton's campaign has blamed Russia for an embarrassing leak of emails from the Democratic National Committee, propelling the Kremlin to the heart of American political debate as tensions between Moscow and Washington linger months before the historic vote.
	Trump denied allegations of ties with Moscow today, telling voters in Florida that he had "nothing to do with Russia."
	"I said (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin has much better leadership qualities than (US President Barack) Obama, but who doesn't know that?" he said.
	Trump's statement came after the Kremlin reiterated that it was not meddling in US internal affairs.
	"President Putin has repeatedly said that Russia has never interfered and does not interfere in internal affairs, especially in the electoral processes of other ..

Kremlin denies interfering in US election campaign

Pope Francis said today the world was at war but argued that religion was not the cause, as he arrived in Poland a day after jihadists murdered a Catholic priest in France.
	In his first speech after touching down in the city of Krakow, the pontiff said the way to "overcome fear" was to welcome people fleeing conflict and hardship.
	Opening doors to migrants demands "great wisdom and compassion" he said, chastising a rightwing government that has refused to share the burden during Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.
	"We must not be afraid to say the truth, the world is at war because it has lost peace," the pontiff told journalists on the flight out from Rome.
	"When I speak of war I speak of wars over interests, money, resources, not religion. All religions want peace, it's the others who want war."
	The brutal killing of the elderly priest during mass in France yesterday, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group, has cast a shadow over Francis's trip to ...

Pope Francis says 'world at war', but religion not cause

An earthquake shook Tokyo late today, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.
	The 5.4 magnitude jolt was felt in Tokyo and areas of eastern Japan at 11:47 am, the US Geological Survey said.
	The quake comes a week after the capital's high-rise buildings were shaken by a 5.0 quake.
	Quakes of a similar scale also shock Tokyo on July 17 and 19.
	The epicentre of today's quake was east of the capital in Ibaraki prefecture at a depth of about 46.7 kilometres, the USGS said.
	There was no threat of a tsunami, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
	Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent quakes every year, but rigid building codes and strict enforcement mean even powerful tremors do little damage.
	A massive undersea quake that hit in March 2011 sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan's northeast coast, leaving more than 18,000 people dead or missing, and sending three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear ...

5.4 magnitude quake shakes Tokyo

McDonald's will create more than 5,000 jobs in Britain by the end of 2017, the fast food chain said today despite economic uncertainty following the Brexit vote.
	"These new jobs build on the 8,000 we announced in 2014 which has taken our workforce to over 110,000 ahead of schedule," McDonald's UK CEO Paul Pomroy said in a statement.
	Pomroy attributed the expansion to investment and innovation in the company's 500 fast food restaurants in Britain, the majority of which now offer table service.
	McDonald's plans to open a further 250 fast food restaurants by the end of 2016, pushing forward with its expansion plans despite economic uncertainty following the UK's decision in June to leave the EU.
	"These remain challenging economic conditions but I'm pleased that, together with our franchisees, we remain committed to the UK," Pomroy said.
	McDonald's announcement was described as "great news for the UK economy" by business minister Greg Clark.
	"Businesses are confident that the UK ...

McDonald's commits to UK with 5,000 new jobs

Syrian government air strikes and artillery fire killed at least 16 civilians today in rebel-held neighbourhoods in the east of Aleppo city, a monitor said.
	The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven people had been killed in the Sakhur neighbourhood and another seven in Al-Ansari district.
	Two more were killed in the Sukari and Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhoods, the monitor said, adding that the toll could rise because people were still trapped under the rubble.
	The renewed strikes came as Syria's army officially announced it had surrounded the rebel-held east of the city.
	Opposition neighbourhoods of Aleppo have been effectively besieged since July 7, when government troops advanced to within firing range of the sole remaining supply route into the east.
	They have continued to advance, seizing the road itself and at least one rebel-held neighbourhood in the north-west of the city.
	"Our armed forces... Cut all the supply routes and crossings used by terrorists 

Syria regime bombing kills 16 in rebel-held Aleppo: monitor

The mother of a Pakistani celebrity murdered in a so-called 'honour' killing said her son strangled his sister after being taunted by his friends over her behaviour.
	The death earlier this month of starlet Qandeel Baloch, who shot to fame for her provocative selfies and videos in the conservative Muslim country, shone a spotlight on such killings and re-ignited calls for legislative action to curb the crime.
	Speaking to AFP from her home in the village of Shah Sadar Din, Baloch's mother Anwar Wai wept as she recalled the shocking death at the hands of brother Muhammad Wasim.
	"He killed my daughter after being taunted by his friends. They would infuriate him and tell him she is bringing you dishonour," she said, surrounded by her husband as well as an adult son and daughter.
	The desperately poor family, who live in a three-room house with mud for flooring, said they depended on Baloch financially and did not know how they would cope without her. Baloch supported around a dozen ...

Mum says Pakistani starlet slain by brother over taunts

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been ruled of next week's third Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston with a torn right calf, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Wednesday.
	   Durham paceman Stokes suffered the injury midway through bowling his sixth over on the fourth day of the second Test at Old Trafford on Monday, when England completed a 330-run win to level the four-match series at 1-1.
	   A scan revealed the extent of Stokes's injury and the 25-year-old's fitness will be reviewed by the England medical team next week, with the squad assembling in Birmingham on Monday.
	   In addition to the remaining 10 fit players who featured at Old Trafford, England have selected Nottinghamshire paceman Jake Ball, who made his Test debut in a 75-run defeat by Pakistan in the series opener at Lord's.
	   Also in a 13-man squad is Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn, who also played in that match, and Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
	   The third Test starts on Wednesday, August 3.
 

Stokes out of third Test against Pakistan

A massive bomb blast claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 44 people and wounded dozens today in the Kurdish-majority Syrian city of Qamishli.
	It was the largest and deadliest attack to hit the city since the beginning of Syria's conflict in March 2011.
	Syrian state media gave a toll of 44 dead and 140 injured in the bombing, which hit a western district of the city where several local Kurdish ministries are located.
	The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor gave a toll of 48 dead, adding that children and women were among those killed.
	Kurdish officials said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck.
	The blast was initially described as a double bombing, but local officials and the Observatory said the bomb had detonated a nearby fuel container, leading to reports of a second explosion.
	An AFP journalist saw devastating scenes in the bomb's aftermath, with distraught civilians, some covered in blood, ...

Massive IS bomb attack kills 44 in Syrian Kurdish city

Bangladesh today launched a hunt for the survivor of a police raid on an extremist hideout which killed nine suspected Islamists who claimed to belong to the Islamic State group.
	Investigators hope the escaped extremist and another man who was arrested during the major gunfight in Dhaka yesterday will shed light on the group's proclaimed ties with the IS.
	"We've alerted all checkpoints in the capital in a bid to arrest him (the escapee)," deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Masud Ahmed, told AFP.
	Officers believe the nine slain extremists were part of the same group that killed 22 people during an attack on an upscale Dhaka cafe on July 1 -- an attack claimed by IS.
	Police said they recovered IS's black flag and robes from the Dhaka hideout, but maintained that the extremists are actually members of the domestic Islamist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
	"We're conducting an investigation. Hasan has claimed that they were IS members," a senior security ...

Bangladesh hunts escaped as it probes IS links

One of the assailants who slit the throat of an elderly French priest had dreamed of going to Syria and threatened to attack churches -- but seldom visited his local mosque, neighbours said.
	Adel Kermiche, 19, had been known to the French authorities before yesterday's shock church attack in a Normandy town and was described by one acquaintance as a "time bomb".
	Kermiche and another unidentified man stormed the centuries-old stone church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking priest Jacques Hamel hostage along with three nuns and two worshippers before slitting the elderly cleric's throat.
	He lived in his parents' modest home -- less than two kilometres from the church -- where he spent much of the day under curfew, fitted with an electronic tag while awaiting trial for alleged links to terror.
	A family member had raised the alarm after Kermiche went missing destined for war-torn Syria in March 2015.
	German authorities arrested him shortly afterwards as he attempted to transit the ..

France priest killer was 'Syria obsessed time-bomb'

A Kuwaiti court today sentenced a Shiite lawmaker to 14 years and six months in absentia for remarks deemed highly offensive to fellow Gulf states Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
	Abdulhameed Dashti received 11 years and six months for insulting Saudi Arabia and three years for insulting Bahrain in another case.
	The outspoken lawmaker, who has been living overseas for the past four months, was also convicted of endangering Kuwait's diplomatic ties with the two countries.
	Dashti, a strong supporter of Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, had told parliament that he was undergoing medical treatment in Britain.
	The lawmaker still faces several similar cases and if convicted could receive additional jail terms.
	Dashti has been a vocal critic of the royal families of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
	He denounced the 2011 Saudi military intervention in Bahrain to support the government against Shiite-led protests as an "invasion".
	In May last year, Dashti filed a request to question the ...

Kuwait jails Shiite MP for insulting Saudi, Bahrain

France's Le Monde daily said today it would no longer publish photographs of killers responsible for terror attacks to avoid giving them "posthumous glorification".
	The country's biggest rolling news television channel, BFMTV, later confirmed that it was following suit, as did Catholic daily La Croix.
	And the Europe 1 radio station said it was going further and not "naming terrorists".
	"We realised after the Nice attack that we were very uncomfortable about a series of photos from the attacker's past," Le Monde's managing editor Jerome Fenoglio told AFP, referring to widely circulated images of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel flexing his muscles and salsa dancing.
	"It is not about hiding the facts, or where these killers came from, which is why we do not agree with not naming them," he added.
	"But their photos are not pertinent for describing their background," he said.
	BFMTV, which came in for criticism for interviewing gunman Amedy Coulibaly during the January 2015 kosher ...

French media pull photos of attackers over glorification fears

The Philippines today said it had "vigorously" lobbied Southeast Asian nations to take a united stance critical of Beijing's claims to most of the South China Sea, but insisted a diluted statement remained a victory.
	After initially denying doing so, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said he lobbied his counterparts at a meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos this week to refer to the verdict in a statement issued on Monday.
	The statement avoided mentioning this month's ruling by a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague that Beijing's claims to almost all of the strategic waterway had no legal basis, instead calling merely for "self-restraint".
	Asked at a news conference in Manila if he pushed for ASEAN to refer to the ruling, Yasay said: "Yes, vigorously".
	However, he said the statement was a "victory" for ASEAN, as it referred to upholding principles of international law.
	The Philippines, under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino, ...

Philippines lobbied ASEAN on sea row verdict: Govt

Spain's top criminal court today said it had sentenced 11 former executives of stamp firm Afinsa to up to 12 years in jail for their role in a vast scam that ruined thousands of savers.
	The Madrid-based Audiencia Nacional also ordered six of the accused to pay 2.57 billion euros (USD 2.8 billion) in compensation for the losses incurred by investors -- including former Afinsa president Juan Antonio Cano, who was sentenced to 12 years and ten months in prison.
	The court said the scam, which saw Afinsa sell low quality and sometimes fake stamps for highly inflated prices to more than 190,000 people in Spain and Portugal from 1998 to 2006, was "one of the biggest frauds our courts ever experienced."
	The company promised to buy back people's stamps after these supposedly rose in value, which would see their clients recoup their initial investment plus interest, the court said.
	But given that the reportedly rare stamps were actually of little value in the collectors market, initial ...

Eleven jailed in stamp scam, one of Spain's 'biggest frauds'

President Vladimir Putin will meet members of Russia's Olympic team on Wednesday as the list of its athletes banned from the Rio Games over revelations of state-run doping soared above 100.
     An AFP journalist at the Kremlin said the athletes to meet Putin included banned track and field stars Yelena Isinbayeva, Sergey Shubenkov and Maria Kuchina, who are barred from competing next month in Rio.
     The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sparked fierce criticism on Sunday when it resisted a blanket ban in favour of allowing individual sports federations to make the call on which Russians can go to Rio.
     International sports federations are now scrambling to vet Russian athletes as time ticks down to the start of the Games on August 5. Putin, who has made sporting success a priority in a bid to harness national pride, is set to meet 49 athletes, including those approved for Rio and those set to miss out, at a ceremony in the Kremlin.
     The influential head of the ...

Putin to meet Russia's dope-tainted Rio team

Britain will enter EU exit talks in a strong position, finance minister Philip Hammond declared today, after data revealed economic growth unexpectedly accelerated in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.
	Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.6 per cent in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a first estimate for April-June, which included the shock EU exit vote towards the end of the period.
	That beat market expectations for 0.5-per cent growth, as activity was boosted by rebounding industrial production, and followed 0.4-per cent expansion in the first quarter.
	"Today's GDP figures show that the fundamentals of the British economy are strong," said finance chief Hammond.
	"In the second quarter of this year our economy grew by 0.6 per cent -- faster than was expected.
	"Indeed we saw the strongest quarterly rise in production for nearly twenty years, so it is clear we enter our negotiations to leave the EU from a position of economic ...

AFP

AFP

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