Tony Blair pleaded with his critics to stop questioning his intentions over Britain's disastrous war in Iraq, after a blistering verdict by the Chilcot inquiry -- but commentators today showed scant sympathy.
	"For his own sanity he still has to tell himself the world is 'better and safer' for him joining George Bush's assault on Iraq. It is a monumental delusion," said an editorial in The Sun, Britain's top-selling paper.
	It added: "Blair does admit the post-war planning was a calamity. That is his only concession. He sees no reason to apologise for his decision to go to war and insists he'd do the same again.
	"He still believes he had no choice. You could have said no, Tony."
	After the publication of the long-awaited inquiry report yesterday, Blair gave an emotional two-hour press conference in which he acknowledged mistakes but defended his intentions -- and said he would do it again.
	Newspaper coverage today was scathing of the former Labour prime minister, who won three ...

UK press condemn Blair 'arrogance' over Iraq war

PTI Automatic

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's push for his country to be granted "observer status" at the African Union gained the backing of continental heavyweight Ethiopia today.
	"Israel is working very hard in many African countries. There is no reason to deny this observer position to Israel," said Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as Netanyahu began the last leg of his four-nation Africa tour this week.
	The position of observer is granted to some non-African countries that wish to engage with the AU, follow proceedings and address its gatherings. Israel had been an observer at the AU's predecessor organisation but its status was not renewed at the AU's founding in 2002.
	The 54-member organisation, headquartered in Addis Ababa, would be an important diplomatic ally for Israel, as is Ethiopia which begins a two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2017.
	Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has used his country's AU observer status since .

Israel wins Ethiopian support for AU 'observer' role

The Irish parliament today rejected proposed legislation to allow abortion in Ireland in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.
	Prime Minister Enda Kenny had instructed his Fine Gael party members to vote against the bill as the state's top legal adviser believed it contravened the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution, which recognises the equal right to life of the unborn and the mother.
	"The bill is bad for women and medically inadequate," the prime minister said earlier this week.
	Fine Gael deputies were joined by members of Fianna Fail, the other main centre-right party, and the bill was defeated in a vote of 95 to 45.
	Speaking ahead of the vote, the bill's proponent Mick Wallace said he wanted to see the proposals tested in the country's Supreme Court.
	"It will add urgency to the fact that there's at least four or five women every week in Ireland having to travel out of the country to have a fatal foetal abnormality dealt with," he said.
	Abortion is illegal in Ireland ...

Irish parliament rejects limited abortion bill

A Baghdad bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed 292 people, a minister said today, raising the toll of one of the deadliest single attacks in Iraq since the US-led invasion.
	A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle in Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood early on Sunday, ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
	Officials had previously put at more than 250 the death toll from the powerful blast, which sparked infernos that gutted nearby buildings in the popular shopping district.
	Health Minister Adila Hamoud said the identities of 177 people killed in the bombing have yet to be determined, while 115 bodies have been handed over to families, according to a statement from the ministry.
	The attack also wounded 200 people, Hamoud said.
	The minister told AFP on Tuesday that the process of identifying all of the unknown bodies -- which she said at the time numbered 150 -- was expected to take between 15 and 45 ...

292 dead in Baghdad blast claimed by IS: new toll

Five people were hurt, including one seriously, at Spain's famed San Fermin bull-running festival, also marred by five arrests over allegations of sexual assault, authorities said today.
	Those hurt fell as they were chased by six rampaging bulls through the narrow streets of Pamplona on the second day of the city's nine-day fiesta.
	None was gored but a 56-year-old man was taken to hospital after fracturing his left sinus, hospital officials said.
	One man aged 66 suffered severe concussion while three others had minor injuries in a huge scrum of hundreds of people who joined the early-morning fray to see if they could outrun six bulls over 800 metres (900 yards).
	Organisers had warned participants beforehand that "you can die" in a bull run, pointing to a death toll of "at least 16 since 1910". The most recent fatality was in 2009.
	Also today, police said they have made five arrests after a woman said she had been sexually assaulted overnight, a police spokesman told AFP.
	The ...

Five hurt, five arrested at Spain's famed bull run

Angelique Kerber booked a Wimbledon final showdown with defending champion Serena Williams as the German ended Venus Williams' bid for a fairytale title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory today.
     Serena's demolition of Elena Vesnina in the day's first semi-final had set up the prospect of a first all-Williams Wimbledon final since 2009.
     But Kerber had no intention of being a footnote in Wimbledon history and she saw off five-time champion Venus in 71 minutes on Centre Court to reach her first All England Club title match.
     "Venus won so many times here and was playing really well. That's why I'm so happy to reach my first Wimbledon final," Kerber said.
     "It's a really good feeling. I'm really enjoying my tennis life."
     Kerber stunned Serena to win her maiden Grand Slam crown in the Australian Open final in January and the 28-year-old again stands in the way of the world number one's bid to win a record-equalling 22nd major.
     Having beaten one Williams, the fourth seeded .

Kerber downs Venus, faces Serena in Wimbledon final

Bangladesh has launched a clampdown on social media sites spreading jihadist propaganda after an attack on a Dhaka cafe in which 20 hostages, including an Indian girl, were murdered, saying the country's young were being radicalised online.
	Authorities said the deadly siege at an upmarket cafe popular with foreigners had been an "eye-opener", exposing the role of social media in recruiting young men to jihadist groups.
	"Social media has become a fertile ground for recruiting militants," the head of the telecoms regulator Shahjahan Mahmood told AFP.
	"The attack was an eye-opener for us. They (jihadist groups) attract the young men through social media."
	The Islamic State group, which has claimed Friday night's attack, has long used social media to recruit fighters and incite individuals around the world to commit terrorist attacks.
	Mahmood said the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had ordered YouTube to remove videos of "radical preachings", including ...

Bangladesh clamps down on social media after cafe attack

UN cultural agency UNESCO will gather in Istanbul on Sunday to review candidates to join its prestigious World Heritage List, ranging from 350-million-year old fossils to works by Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier.
	After the June 28 attack on Istanbul's airport that claimed 45 lives, security has been stepped up for the 11-day World Heritage Committee meeting - the panel's 40th.
	Though no one claimed responsibility for the attack, Ankara has pointed the finger of blame at the Islamic State group, which has wreaked considerable damage on World Heritage sites such as the ancient city of Palmyra and the citadel of Aleppo, both in Syria.
	"What happened in Syria and Iraq as well as in Mali and Afghanistan were so shocking that the process of preparing UNESCO's lists has become of great political importance," said the body's director general, Irina Bokova.
	Earlier this year IS blew up the ancient Nabu temple in Iraq. In 2012 a Malian jihadist blew up nine mausoleums and part of ...

UNESCO set to expand World Heritage list at Istanbul meeting

Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews today blamed fitness issues for the team's disastrous England tour, but said he hoped to use the advantage of home conditions against a tough Australian side.
     Mathews returned home after losing the Test series 2-0, the five match ODI series 3-0 (with one tie and one no result) and also conceding the only T20 in chilly English conditions.
     "Fitness was a big issue, as the captain I am disappointed with our battling, bowling and fielding," Mathews told reporters in Colombo. "We have to improve in all departments."
     However, he thanked loyal local fans for not mocking them for their dismal performance.
     "From the officials at the airport (in Colombo) to others we met on the way, they have been very supportive at a time when we are down," he said. "This support means a lot to us."
     Asked about preparations for the upcoming home series against Australia, Mathews said he wanted to address fitness issues plaguing the young team which saw .

Sri Lanka blame fitness for England loss

Philippine government forces fought hundreds of Islamic militants on two remote islands today, with the military aircraft-backed campaign leaving up to 10 people dead, the army said.
	The gun battles on the southern islands of Jolo and Basilan followed orders by new President Rodrigo Duterte for the security services to go after the Abu Sayyaf, which recently beheaded two foreign hostages and is also blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history.
	The fighting was continuing late today with more troops being rushed in, backed by military aircraft and artillery, regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan told reporters.
	"Continuous indirect fire support and air strikes are being done and additional troops were deployed," he added without giving details.
	Army troops hunting down Abu Sayyaf units clashed with about 130 of the gunmen near the Jolo town of Patikul, killing a soldier and wounding six others, Tan said.
	Military intelligence reports later determined that ...

Philippine army: 10 dead in clashes with Islamic militants

The prospect of Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt missing the Rio Olympics through injury will rightly give organisers and fans palpitations.
     But track and field's chief administrator, Sebastian Coe, insisted today that the Summer Games were not based around one athlete, albeit acknowledging the "genius" of the six-time Olympic gold medallist.
     Bolt is facing a race against time to be fit in his bid for an unprecedented third treble Olympic gold with the Rio Games just four weeks away.
     Bolt withdrew from the 100m final of last week's Jamaican Olympic Trials with what the 100 and 200m world record holder described as a mildly torn left hamstring.
     "He's important but he's not the only athlete that's going to be in Rio," IAAF president Coe told a small group of journalists on the sidelines of the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam.
     "We have some extraordinary world-class athletes. But I accept the man is a genius. He's probably the most recognisable ...

Coe cool over injury-hit 'genius' Bolt

Yuliya Stepanova's participation at the European championships was proof of the IAAF's consistency on anti-doping whistle blowers, world track and field supremo Sebastian Coe said today.
     In an interview with a small group of journalists in Amsterdam, Coe launched a fresh plea for athletes to turn informants should they encounter doping, saying it was a "historic moment" for athletics.
     Stepanova herself served a two-year doping ban before she and her husband Vitaly made startling revelations about state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics.
     Associated, widespread corruption with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) plunged the body into its worst-ever crisis, just as Coe was installed as president in place of now-disgraced Lamine Diack.
     Russian athletes were promptly suspended from international competition in November and now face a race a raft of criteria to meet before even being in with a chance to compete at the Rio Olympics.
     But .

Coe calls for more whistle blowers after Stepanova comeback

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said that Britain's shock vote to quit the European Union has injected significant uncertainty into the global economy but is unlikely to cause a world recession.
	But in an exclusive interview with AFP, she also said that Brexit underscores the need for the EU to do a better explaining how it benefits Europeans, amid "disenchantment" with the institution.
	And she said that Britain's move to cut corporate taxes to counter the expected economic fallout from its choice to break with the EU was just a "race to the bottom" that could hurt everyone.
	Two weeks after the British referendum on cutting its EU ties, Lagarde, speaking in her Washington offices at the beginning of her second five year term as IMF managing director, called the event a "major downside risk" for the world.
	"We don't think that a global recession is very likely. The immediate effects will be on the UK," with some spillover into the euro area, she said.
	Yet the ..

IMF's Lagarde: no world recession from Brexit but risks high

A car bomb killed 11 soldiers in Libya's second city Benghazi as they held evening prayers on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, a military source said today.
	Benghazi has been hit by repeated bombings since troops under the command of controversial General Khalifa Haftar drove Islamist fighters out of most of the city earlier this year.
	Haftar refuses to recognise a joint military command set by the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, saying he still takes orders from a rival administration based in the far eastern city of Tobruk.
	Yesterday's blast follows a car bomb targeting a security chief that killed two people on Sunday and a June 24 bombing that killed four civilians.
	Meanwhile, a MiG-23 fighter jet of Haftar's air force crashed in the west of Benghazi yesterday, killing its pilot, a spokesman said.
	"The crash was due to a technical fault," Ahmad al- Mismari, spokesman of the Haftar-led army command, said.

Car bomb kills 11 soldiers in Libya's Benghazi

German prosecutors said today they have arrested an alleged Algerian Islamic State group militant who had contact with the late ringleader of the November Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
	The suspect, identified only as 20-year-old Bilal C, is accused of having informed Abaaoud of ways to smuggle jihadists into Western Europe along the Balkans route then used by a mass influx of migrants.
	He had also been in touch with Moroccan jihadist Ayoub El Khazzani, who opened fire with an assault rifle on an Amsterdam-Paris train last August but was overpowered by a group of Americans and a Briton, prosecutors said.
	Bilal C was already in custody "on another matter" when the German domestic intelligence service identified him as an IS suspect, said federal prosecutors in a statement. An investigating judge had issued a new arrest warrant.
	The man allegedly travelled in 2014 from Algeria via Turkey to Syria where in December he joined the IS and received combat and weapons training.
	In ...

Germany arrests IS suspect 'close to Paris attacks planner'

A Baghdad bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed 292 people, the health minister said today, raising the toll of what was already one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq.
	The identities of 177 people killed in the bombing, which ripped through a crowded shopping area early on Sunday, have yet to be determined, while 115 bodies have been handed over to families, Health Minister Adila Hamoud said in a statement.

Death toll from Baghdad blast rises to 292: minister

Six-time champion Serena Williams breezed into her ninth Wimbledon final, and a potential match-up with sister Venus, by demolishing unseeded Russian Elena Vesnina in just 48 minutes today.
     The 34-year-old American, who is bidding for an Open Era record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title, cantered to a 6-2, 6-0 win over her 50th-ranked opponent.
     The defending champion could face Venus in Saturday's title match for the fifth time at Wimbledon and ninth time at all four majors.
     Her 36-year-old sister faces fourth-seeded German Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion, in the second semi-final later Thursday.
     Serena, playing in her 32nd Grand Slam semi-final, blasted last-four debutant Vesnina off the sun-kissed Centre Court in front of Prince William's wife Kate watching from up in the Royal Box.
     The American fired 11 aces, 28 winners and committed just seven unforced errors, breaking serve five times to reach her 28th Grand Slam final.
     Vesnina won just .

Serena storms into ninth Wimbledon final

England's all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson was ruled out of a 12-man squad announced today for next week's first Test against Pakistan at Lord's.
     Anderson has not recovered from a right shoulder injury sustained in the third Test against Sri Lanka last month -- a three-match series England won 2-0.
     The Lancashire paceman's place in the squad has been taken by uncapped seamer Toby Roland-Jones.
     He will now pushing for a Test debut on his Lord's home ground alongside Nottinghamshire quick Jake Ball, in the squad for the Sri Lanka series but also yet to make his maiden Test appearance.
     "Jimmy has been touch and go for a while, he is making really good progress but it is the selectors' view that he just won't be quite ready for that first Test, hopefully for the second," said England captain Alastair Cook at a Lord's press conference previewing the four-match series on Thursday.
     With struggling number three Nick Compton having taken time out of ...

England's Anderson out of first Pakistan Test

The German parliament today passed a landmark "no means no" rape law, broadening the definition of sex crimes and making it easier to deport migrants and refugees who commit them.
	After years of anguished discussion on the need for tougher treatment of rape by the German criminal justice system, the new legislation finally came together following a rash of sexual assaults in crowds on New Year's Eve in the western city of Cologne.
	Deputies gave a standing ovation as the law passed the Bundestag lower house with an overwhelming majority, following an emotional debate.
	Dubbed the "no means no" law, it explicitly covers cases in which a victim withheld consent but did not physically fight back. It brings what critics call woefully lax legislation into line with that of many other developed countries.
	The law, entitled "improving the protection of sexual self-determination", also lowers the bar for deporting sex offenders, classifies groping as a sex crime and targets assaults ...

Germany toughens rape law after Cologne mob assaults

Taiwan cancelled more than 100 flights and shut schools and offices today as the island braced for a direct hit from Super Typhoon Nepartak, the first major tropical storm of the season.
	The typhoon was packing gusts of up to 245 kilometres an hour as it rumbled towards the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung, where it is expected to make landfall early tomorrow, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.
	The storm is expected to dump torrential rain on the whole island with mountainous areas forecast to be deluged with up to 600 millimetres, potentially triggering landslides that have in the past claimed hundreds of lives.
	All fishing boats have been called back to port as waves -- as high as 14 metres, according to TV reports -- batter the eastern coast.
	More than 35,000 soldiers are on standby to help with evacuations and disaster relief, while shelters have been set up across the island.
	About 200 people have been moved from their homes in Hualien and the southern ...

Taiwan cancels flights as super typhoon bears down

The Niger Delta Avengers militant group today said it attacked more oil infrastructure in southern Nigeria, ignoring a call for unity from President Muhammadu Buhari.
	The group said in an email that it hit manifolds RMP 22, 23 and 24 operated by Chevron Nigeria Limited in Delta state at about 1:20 am. RMP 23 and 24 had previously been attacked on June 1.
	RMPs or remote manifold platforms are where smaller oil and gas pipelines converge before being sent to larger lines.
	It is understood the facilities had been repaired since the last strike.
	A military officer said the attack happened in the Warri North area of Delta state, adding: "A controlled explosive device was used to carry the attack.
	"These gives them (the militants) ample time to detonate the device even while they have long left the scene of the incident."
	The spate of attacks claimed by the Niger Delta Avengers since February has hit oil production in Nigeria, exacerbating a financial crisis caused by low global crude 

AFP

AFP

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