Popular Zimbabwean pastor Evan Mawarire, one of the organisers of the largest protests in years against President Robert Mugabe, was arrested today and charged with inciting public violence, his lawyer said.
	A national "shutdown" protest last week closed many businesses, shops and schools, with public transport and some government departments and courts also ceasing to function.
	The strike on Wednesday followed protests triggered by an outbreak of demonstrations on the outskirts of Harare over police accused of using road blocks to extort cash from motorists.
	Further shutdowns are planned tomorrow and on Thursday in a surge of public anger over the country's worsening economic crisis and opposition to the authoritarian regime of Mugabe, 92.
	Banks have run short of cash, government salaries have been delayed and some imports banned at a time when the country has also suffered a severe drought that has left millions hungry.
	"(Mawarire) has been charged with inciting public ...

Zimbabwe protest leader arrested on eve of strike

PTI Automatic

A rights group today slammed foreign representatives for attending a Chinese government-organised forum in Tibet that claimed international support for a "Lhasa Consensus" on economic development in the mainly Buddhist region.
	Chinese state media said that "130 guests from over 30 countries and regions" agreed "Tibet will have a bright future!" at a two-day meeting in the regional capital.
	The official Xinhua news agency said the document stressed the ruling Communist Party's traditional view that economic development was Tibet's most important task, adding that growth should be environmentally friendly.
	"Cultural preservation with development is the best way to carry Tibet's outstanding traditional culture forward," the Consensus reportedly said.
	It made no reference to the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader and a Nobel laureate.
	Beijing says its troops "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1951 and insists it has since brought development to a previously backward region ...

Tibet 'consensus' slammed by rights group

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter reiterated Washington's support for "courageous" Afghan security forces today, days after the United States and NATO pledged to keep thousands of troops in the troubled country.
	   Carter spoke as President Ashraf Ghani welcomed the "environment of trust" between Washington and Kabul at a joint news conference in the Afghan capital.
	"The Afghan security forces have demonstrated the motivation, the will and the resilience in the face of a persistent enemy," Carter said.
	"I have confidence in the ability of the Afghan forces to provide for the stability and security that the Afghan people deserve and I commend them for fighting courageously last year during a tough fighting season."
	The Pentagon chief's unannounced visit follows a renewed commitment to Afghanistan from NATO, which said over the weekend it would keep forces there until the end of 2017 at least.
	Most are American, but around 40 countries have deployed troops there. Their official ...

Pentagon chief praises 'courageous' Afghan security forces

A German jihadist was sentenced to prison today on war crimes charges after posing for pictures in conflict-torn Syria with the severed and impaled heads of two government troops.
	Aria Ladjedvardi, aged 21 and with Iranian roots, received a prison term of two years, handed down by the Frankfurt regional court.
	The court heard that the man, having been radicalised in Germany, travelled to Syria for at least several weeks in early 2014, where he joined a militant identified only as Vedat V, who remains at large.
	In March or April, jihadists including Vedat V attacked a Syrian army checkpoint near the town of Binnish, Idlib province, captured at least two troops, beheaded them and impaled their heads on metal rods.
	"The accused posed with the dismembered heads and let himself be photographed three times, so as to mock and belittle the deceased, whom he considered 'dishonourable infidels'" or non-believers, the court said in a statement.
	Vedat V later uploaded one of the images on ...

German jihadist jailed for posing with severed heads in Syria

The US put itself on a collision course with great power rival China today, describing a ruling against Beijing's South China Sea claims as "final and legally binding."
	Washington had carefully avoided taking a stance on the suit lodged by the Philippines against China's maritime territorial claims, but when judgment came down, it urged both sides to abide by the result.
	"The United States expresses its hope and expectation that both parties will comply with their obligations," State Department spokesman John Kirby said. Beijing has already rejected the ruling out of hand.
	Earlier, a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague - the Permanent Court of Arbitration - ruled that China has no historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the so-called "nine-dash-line".
	The United States has no claims of its own within this three-million-square-kilometer patch of sea, but has asserted the right of all shipping to pass through areas it regards as international waters.
	And ...

US: South China Sea ruling 'legally binding'

The European Union today launched a controversial deal with the United States aimed at curbing government spying on the personal internet data of European citizens.
	EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker presented the final version of the deal, which replaces one struck down last October by the EU's top court.
	The court struck down the deal based on an Austrian activist's case against Facebook in Ireland, and its judgment cited US snooping practices exposed by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
	"The EU-US Privacy Shield is a robust new system to protect the personal data of Europeans and ensure legal certainty for businesses," Jourova said.
	Top US companies including Facebook and Google in particular have been eager to end the legal void following the decision by the European Court of Justice, because they transfer data from their European subsidiaries to their headquarters in the United States.
	The deal includes commitments by ..

EU launches controversial internet privacy deal with US

Eurozone finance ministers agreed today to officially begin a sanctions procedure against Spain and Portugal for doing too little to fix their rule-breaking deficits.
	The ministers "found that Portugal and Spain had not taken effective action in response to its recommendations on measures to correct their excessive deficits", a statement said.
	The decision "will trigger sanctions under the excessive deficit procedure."
	Spain and Portugal now have 10 days to lobby the EU to impose no penalty.
	The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will consider their arguments and must decide on sanctions within 20 days.
	Under EU rules, the commission could impose fines of up to 0.2 per cent of gross domestic product on eurozone countries that repeatedly ignore the deficit limits -- but to date it has not dared to use its full power.
	The ministers took the unprecedented step despite fears that too much austerity by Brussels will further stoke anti-EU populism after the Brexit ...

EU launches sanctions procedure against Spain, Portugal

A woman on trial in one of Germany's worst infanticide cases, involving eight dead babies, confessed today to killing several of them but said she could not remember how many.
	Andrea Goeppner, 45, was charged with four of the murders after the babies' remains were found wrapped in towels and plastic bags last year in a case that revulsed the country.
	Asked how many of the eight she confessed to killing, her defence lawyer Till Wagler said, "it could have been two, three or four".
	Prosecutors were unable to pursue murder charges for the other four infants, as one was found to have been stillborn and three were so badly decomposed that it was unclear whether they were viable at birth.
	The grisly remains were uncovered last year in Goeppner's apartment in the Bavarian small town of Wallenfels.
	The woman's estranged husband, Johann Goeppner, 55, is charged with complicity for failing to stop the killings, which took place between 2003 and 2013.
	In her confession, read out by her ...

Mother admits killing babies in one of Germany's worst cases

As Dallas came to grips with the aftermath of last week's sniper shooting targeting police, more details emerged about the gunman and his troubled past.
	People took to the streets again in fresh protests over police shootings of black Americans, with hundreds of protesters blocking streets in America's third largest city Chicago.
	The parents of gunman Micah Johnson, who killed five police officers during an ambush in Dallas on Thursday, said yesterday he was "disappointed" and grew reclusive after being discharged from the US Army in 2015.
	"The military was not what Micah thought it would be," his mother Delphine told TheBlaze network.
	"He was very disappointed, very disappointed. But it may be that the ideal that he thought of our government, what he thought the military represented, it just didn't live up to his expectations."
	Johnson served six years as a private in the Army Reserve force and was in Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014.
	His father James said it was ...

Family of Dallas shooter speaks out, as US protests continue

At least 10 dead in Italy train crash: media (AFP)

China "does not accept and does not recognise" the ruling by a UN-backed tribunal on its dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea, official media said here today.
	   State-run Xinhua news agency reported the comments, in a brief dispatch that did not identify a source that follow a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague that China has no historic rights to its claimed "nine-dash line".

China rejects Hague tribunal judgement: media

An international tribunal today ruled against China in a bitter row over territorial claims to the South China Sea that is likely to ratchet up regional tensions.
	"The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'," the Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a statement.
	All eyes were watching for reaction from the Asian political and military powerhouse, which had fired off a barrage of criticism even before the decision by the PCA in The Hague was announced.
	China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital waters in the face of rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours.
	Manila had lodged the suit against Beijing in 2013, saying that after 17 years of negotiations it had exhausted all political and diplomatic avenues.
	Beijing waged a months-long campaign to discredit the panel, which it says has no jurisdiction in the multinational dispute, and it refused to .

Tribunal rules against Beijing in South China Sea dispute

China 'does not accept and does not recognise' Hague

The Philippines welcomed a ruling by a UN-backed tribunal today that declares China has no "historic rights" in the South China Sea, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said, as he urged restraint.
	   "The Philippines welcomes the issuance today... On the arbitration proceedings initiated by the Philippines with regard to the South China Sea," Yasay told reporters minutes after the court in The Hague released its verdict.

Philippines 'welcomes' South China Sea ruling

Philippines 'welcomes' South China Sea ruling, urges

China has no legal basis to claim "historic rights" to islands in the South China Sea, an international tribunal ruled today in a bitter dispute that risks stoking further tensions in Southeast Asia.
	   "The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'," the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a statement.
	The Philippines welcomed the ruling while urging restraint.

China has 'no historic rights' in South China Sea: tribunal

- A New Zealand kebab shop owner who ignored a pistol-wielding, would-be robber and continued to serve his customers has insisted "I'm not a hero" after footage of his actions went viral.
	Said Ahmed said he decided to call the bluff of a robber wearing a black hoodie and face mask who burst into the Egyptian Kebab House in Christchurch late in the evening.
	In extraordinary CCTV footage released by Canterbury police, the robber shakes a sports bag in Ahmed's face with one hand and points a pistol at him with the other.
	Instead of filling the bag with cash, Ahmed continues to pack the souvlaki he was working on and turns his back on the gunman to pick up some plastic cutlery and a napkin.
	He then calmly reaches around the robber to hand the meal to a customer, who accepts it and warily backs away.
	As Ahmed walks off to the kitchen, the gunman stands at the counter for a few seconds, not knowing what to do, then takes his bag and shuffles off somewhat sheepishly.
	Footage of the May 

New Zealand kebab shop owner blanks armed robber

China has "no historic rights" in South China Sea:

Oil prices recovered today but stayed near two-month lows as increased US drilling, a strong dollar and hints of higher production by Iran and Libya brought worries about a global glut back into focus.
	The commodity has retreated since last month hitting above USD 52 a barrel as supply disruptions in Nigeria and Canada eased and the fall in US output slowed.
	The US dollar strengthened after Britain voted in late June to leave the European Union, hitting demand in countries with weaker currencies.
	At about 0315 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was 10 cents higher at USD 44.86 while Brent was 13 cents up at USD 46.38.
	Tehran plans to double crude exports so long as the rise in shipments is absorbed by global markets, according to a senior official at state-run National Iranian Oil Co, Bloomberg News reported.
	Iran is now exporting about two million barrels of its daily output of 3.8 million, said Mohsen Ghamsari, director of international affairs at the national oil ...

Oil prices rise up but supply worries temper gains

The Israeli parliament finalised a controversial law compelling NGOs that receive most of their funding from foreign state entities to declare it in official reports, a Knesset spokesman said.
	The law, seen by critics as targeting leftist groups that campaign for Palestinian rights, was passed in a 57-48 vote following a lengthy debate.
	"The law wishes to deal with the phenomenon of NGOs which represent foreign interests of foreign states, while acting under the cover of local organisations seeking to serve the interests of the Israeli public," its introduction read.
	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the law's goal was "to prevent an absurd situation, in which foreign states meddle in Israel's internal affairs by funding NGOs, without the Israeli public being aware of it."
	"Unlike the left's claims, the law's approval will increase transparency, contribute to creating a discourse that reflects the Israeli public opinion, and will strengthen democracy," he wrote on his ...

Israel approves contentious NGO foreign funding law

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, who is expected to represent the United States in the Rio Olympics, has been arrested for an alleged misdemeanour assault.
	According to court documents obtained by ESPN, the 26-year-old Green was detained on Sunday in East Lansing, Michigan where he played four seasons of college basketball.
	Police said that Green was arrested on a misdemeanour assault and battery charge in the early morning hours on Sunday.
	He was released on a USD 200 bond and is scheduled to be back in court on July 20.
	"It was basically an altercation between two guys," police told the US sports broadcaster yesterday. "There's no injuries."
	If convicted, he could face a maximum USD 500 fine and 93 days in jail.
	The Warriors said they are trying to learn more about the incident.
	"We are aware of the news involving Draymond Green in Michigan over the weekend. At this point, we are collecting information and will have no further comment until we have a better ...

AFP

AFP

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