United Nations, Ban Ki-moon

Says all acts of terrorism are unjustifiable; expresses condolences to families of victims

UN condemns 'barbaric and cowardly' Nice attack

Press Trust of India

A truck ploughed into a crowd in the French resort of Nice, killing at least 80 in what President Francois Hollande today called a "terrorist" attack on revellers watching a Bastille Day fireworks display.
	The driver was shot dead after barrelling the truck two kilometres through the festive crowd on the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais, sending hundreds fleeing in terror and leaving the area strewn with bodies.
	Authorities said they found identity papers belonging to a 31-year-old French-Tunisian citizen in the truck, as well as "guns" and "larger weapons".
	The attack was of an "undeniable terrorist nature," a sombre Hollande said in a televised national address, confirming that "several children" were among the dead as families came together to celebrate France's national day.
	The bloodshed came on Bastille Day, a celebration of everything France holds dear, its secular republic and the values of "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity).
	The attacker ...

At least 80 dead in 'terrorist' Nice truck attack

PTI Automatic

Nice attack death toll rises to 80: French interior minister.

Death toll in Nice truck attack now 75: French lawmaker (AFP)

Obama condemns 'what appears to be horrific terrorist attack'

A truck ploughed into a crowd in the French resort of Nice, leaving at least 60 dead and scores injured in an "attack" after a Bastille Day fireworks display, prosecutors said.
	Local government official Sebastien Humbert told BFMTV that the driver of the truck was shot dead after barrelling down the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais in what he called "a major criminal attack".
	"We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around," said an AFP reporter who witnessed the white truck driving at high speed onto the seaside road.
	Hundreds of terrified pedestrians screamed as they fled the area. "It was absolute chaos," he added.
	Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said at least 60 people were killed after the truck drove two kilometres (1.3 miles) through the crowd.
	Witnesses speaking to local television stations described bodies lying on the promenade covered in sheets.
	While officials referred to an "attack", the incident had not been claimed by any group.
	The bloodshed comes eight ..

At least 60 dead in Nice truck 'attack'

At least 60 killed in Nice truck 'attack': authorities (AFP)

Up to 30 people were today feared dead and around 100 injured in an "attack" in the French Riviera resort of Nice after a truck ploughed into a crowd of people leaving a Bastille Day firework display, city officials said.
	Witnesses described hearing gunfire, although this was not immediately confirmed by the authorities with images on social media showed casualties lying in the street, some being tended by paramedics.
	The incident comes as France remains badly shaken by November 2015 attacks which killed 130 people at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and nightspots across the city.
	Describing it as a "major criminal attack", Sebastien Humbert, the sub-prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, told BFMTV the driver had left "several dozen, perhaps around 30 people dead" and "around a hundred injured".
	Police and ambulances went to the scene and authorities from the local Alpes-Maritimes prefecture urged residents to stay indoors.
	An AFP reporter described seeing a white truck ...

30 feared dead after truck rams into crowd in Nice attack

Up to 30 feared dead after van rams into crowd in Nice: local

A Mauritanian journalist and opposition activist was sentenced to three years in jail for throwing his shoe at a cabinet minister, lawyers and a judicial source have said.
	Cheikh Baye Ould Mohamed was found guilty of "violence against a public official in the exercise of his duties" following a one-day trial in the capital Nouakchott, the sources said.
	He was arrested after lobbing his shoe in the direction of a government spokesman during a press conference on June 30 and calling him a "minister of lies".
	Supporters of Ould Mohamed - many of them fellow members of an opposition youth group - jeered and loudly protested as the verdict was read out.
	One of the accused's lawyers, Brahim Ould Ebetty, told AFP they would appeal against the "senseless" verdict.
	He said the judge had gone beyond the punishment demanded by prosecutors, who had called for a minimum sentence.
	"It's an unfair and excessive decision," added another defence lawyer, Yarba Ould Ahmed Saleh.
	Ould Mohamed, who 

Mauritanian journo who threw shoe at minister jailed for 3 yrs

The outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, blamed for a surge in birth defects, has likely reached its peak in Latin America and the epidemic should be over within three years, researchers said today.
	The study by scientists at Imperial College London appears in the US journal Science.
	"The current explosive epidemic will burn itself out due to a phenomenon called herd immunity," said Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial's School of Public Health.
	"Because the virus is unable to infect the same person twice -- thanks to the immune system generating antibodies to kill it -- the epidemic reaches a stage where there are too few people left to infect for transmission to be sustained."
	This should happen within two to three years, he added.
	Then, this herd immunity "will likely delay the next large Zika epidemic for more than a decade."
	The virus, though first discovered in 1947, largely took public health officials by surprise when it began spreading through the Americas last .

Zika epidemic should fizzle out within 3 yrs: study

A man was today sentenced to 30 days in prison for insulting the king of the Netherlands on Facebook, prosecutors said, after being convicted of breaking seldom used royal defamation laws.
	The 44-year-old Dutchman "intentionally insulted King Willem-Alexander", accusing him of being a murderer, thief and rapist, the Dutch judiciary said in a statement.
	The man also doctored images of  executions online to include the king's face in place of those of the actual victims, it said.
	He was found to have violated the king's dignity, "specifically relating to the king's constitutional position and its importance for the national interest".
	"This behaviour is unacceptable in our society and demands that a penalty be imposed on the suspect."
	Although the court in Overijssel, in the country's northeast sentenced him to 30 days imprisonment, of which 16 were suspended, the man will not face any further time in prison having already spent 14 days in preventative custody last year.
	The ...

Dutchman jailed for 30 days for insulting king

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde sounded an alarm today over rising populism and nationalism, citing Britain's vote last month to exit the European Union.
	"It did not take the Brexit vote to understand that low growth, rising inequality, and a lack of jobs have combined with social and geopolitical concerns to fuel the rise of populism and inward-looking forces," Lagarde said in a speech in Washington, according to her prepared remarks.
	"The greatest challenge we face today is the risk of the world turning its back on global cooperation -- the cooperation which has served us all well," the IMF managing director said at an event hosted by the Center for Global Development.
	Lagarde said that low-income developing countries would be particularly affected by a return of protectionism, which would hurt their economies and cloud the outlooks for young populations, notably in Sub-Sahara Africa.
	"If we are not able to provide this coming generation with a livelihood and 

Brexit: Lagarde worries about 'inward-looking forces'

- Scoreboard at tumps on the first day of the first Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's today:
	Pakistan 1st Innings
	Mohammad Hafeez c Bairstow b Woakes      40
	Shan Masood c Bairstow b Woakes           7
	Azhar Ali lbw b Ball                      7
	Younis Khan c Ali b Broad                33
	Misbah-ul-Haq not out                   110
	Asad Shafiq c Bairstow b Woakes          73
	Rahat Ali b Woakes                        0
	Extras (lb9, w2, nb1)                    12
	Total (6 wkts, 87 overs, 393 mins)      282
	To bat: Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah
	Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Masood), 2-51 (Hafeez), 3-77 (Azhar), 4-134 (Younis), 5-282 (Shafiq), 6-282 (Rahat)
	Bowling: Broad 21-9-44-1 (1w); Ball 19-5-51-1 (1w); Woakes 18-6-45-4; Finn 21-2-86-0; Ali 7-0-46-0 (1nb); Vince 1-0-1-0
	England: Alastair Cook (capt), Alex Hales, Joe Root, James Vince, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Jake Ball
	Toss: ...

SPORT-ENG-BOARD

Pakistan were 282 for six after winning the toss at stumps on the first day of the first Test against England at Lord's today.
	Misbah-ul-Haq, who in the course of his innings became the oldest Test centurion in 82 years, was 110 not after Rahat Ali was bowled by Chris Woakes off what became the last ball of the day.
	Warwickshire all-rounder Woakes led England's attack with four for 45.
	This is the first of a four-Test series.

Pakistan 282-6 against England at first day close

Romanian authorities remanded 20 people in custody today suspected of holding dozens of vulnerable young men and boys like slaves, chaining them up and forcing them to fight, authorities said.
	They were among 38 arrested followed large-scale police raids yesterday in Berevoesti, 170 kilometres north of Bucharest, when five people including two boys aged 10 and 12 were freed.
	The captives were "attached with chains and straps... beaten (and) humiliated", starved of food and fed on scraps, prosecutors from the DIICOT organised crime investigation unit said.
	They were "left fully naked, cold and hot water being thrown alternatively on them. Their hands and feet were tied and they were told to eat off the ground or to fight each other to amuse the suspects," they said.
	Since 2008, some 40 victims were "captured in public places, near churches or train stations, or at their homes" and forced to do household chores, look after animals and do illegal logging, prosecutors said.
	90 people 

Twenty held as Romanian police free 'slaves'

President Barack Obama today called to congratulate new British Prime Minister Theresa May, as the White House offered a tepid response to her choice of foreign secretary.
	"The president certainly looks forward to working with Prime Minister May in the six months he has remaining in office," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
	Asked about the appointment of Obama critic Boris Johnson as foreign secretary, the White House said the "special relationship" between the two countries "transcends any single personality."
	Earnest said it was up to the British government to select their representatives.
	"The decision we will make is to seek to deepen and strengthen our special relationship with the UK, regardless of who serves in a position as prominent as foreign minister."
	Earnest likened the situation to the appointment of Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, who has had a rocky relationship with the White House.

Obama calls UK's May to offer congratulations

The state of emergency which France declared after last November's deadly Paris attacks will come to an end later this month, President Francois Hollande confirmed today.
	Speaking on the national July 14 holiday, Hollande said the decree after the November 13 attacks will not be renewed beyond July 26, because a law bolstering security in France was adopted in May.
	"We had to prolong the state of emergency until we could be sure that the law gives us the means to counter the terrorist threat effectively," he said in a traditional Bastille Day television interview.
	The new law "will give us the tools which, while not comparable with the state of emergency, give us the means to keep tabs on certain individuals administratively," he added.
	"We can't prolong the state of emergency forever. That would make no sense, it would mean that we were no longer a republic with laws which can apply in all circumstances," he said, while acknowledging that the threat "remains there."
	Hollande ...

France to end state of emergency

Zimbabwean authorities today deported two Sky News journalists for entering the country without permission, a senior government official said, as the country faces a wave of anti-government protests.
	"They breached our laws and we kicked them out. You don't enter a country without accreditation," said George Charamba, a senior official in the Ministry of Information.
	Charamba, who is also President Robert Mugabe's spokesman, told AFP that their deportation should serve as a warning to foreign journalists who may attempt to sneak into the country without permits.
	The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford and a cameraman, whose identity was not given, were arrested at a lodge in Harare on yesterday.
	The media watchdog said the two were travelling on British passports and were detained overnight at Harare international airport before their deportation this morning.
	"They were allegedly raided at a Harare lodge on the night of Wednesday ..

Zimbabwe deports Sky News journalists for illegal entry

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg apologized today for publicly disparaging Donald Trump as a phoney with a big ego.
	The left-leaning 83-year-old judge shocked the US political establishment with her remarks: on Monday she called Trump "a faker" who "says whatever comes into his head at the moment."
	She also told The New York Times in an interview published last weekend that she "can't imagine" what the United States under Trump as president would be like.
	Ginsburg issued a statement today saying she was sorry.
	"On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them," Ginsburg said.
	"Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect," she added.
	In response to the criticism, Trump had suggested the judge was getting senile and should step down.
	"Justice Ginsburg of the US Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her ...

Supreme Court judge sorry for branding Trump a 'faker'

Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is losing both his mind and his hair because of the "psychological turmoil" he faces in maximum-security prison, one of his lawyers said today.
	Jose Refugio Rodriguez said he found Guzman in a deteriorated state when he was allowed to visit the boss of the Sinaloa cartel recently for the first time in months.
	"I'm crazy... With the treatment I'm receiving. I feel very bad. A doctor came and told me I have anxiety," he quoted Guzman as telling him.
	He said his client had been subjected to "physical torture" and "psychological hell."
	Guzman is losing his once thick black hair and is "visibly bald," the lawyer told Radio Formula.
	He said his client was taking medication for high blood pressure and felt he had become dependent on the drugs.
	Guzman staged a spectacular jailbreak last year and was the world's most-wanted drug lord until his recapture in January in a colorful episode involving a US-Mexican soap opera actress and the Hollywood 

AFP

AFP

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